ENGLISH BUSINESS MEN

Waikato Times, Volume 100, Issue 16813, 3 June 1926, Page 12

ENGLISH BUSINESS MEN

AS AUSTRALIAN SEES THEM. VERY SOUND, BUT RATHER SLOW. Mr 11. N. Bainbridgc, of Melbourne, the general manager for Australia of the Southern Insurance Company, is at present in London on a business visit. In the course of a conversation with a representative of the British Australian and New Zealander, he said — "I find a considerable difference between the average English and Atistrajian business man. The former, though much slower than the latter in coming to a decision, usually comes to the right decision, and is, on the whole, very "sound. Still, in these days of hustle, quick decisions are often essential, and one is likely to find that, aflcr careful and long consideration has brought forlh a decision, someone else has already closed the deal. "On the whole, British business men are overcoming their conservative traditions and are learning to manufacture what, the public wants, instead of trying to force tho public to buy what they manufacture. Among the many 1 examples I can mention the MorrisOxford motor-cars. They are now being built to suit Australian requirements, and consequently arc doing a big and fast-increasing trade in our country. Insurance Here and at Home. "As far as insurance business is concerned there is a tendency in Australia to overtax us. Huge deposits, license fees, Arc brigade charges, etc., make that only big companies with strong resources can hope to survive. Still, all companies are treated on the same basis, and this is better than in New Zealand, the only part of the British Empire which discriminates between local and not local insurance companies. While a New Zealand company is practically free from heavy taxation, an Australian company, or any British company, is heavily burdened. This is, in my opinion, decidedly unfair. "What Australia does need, however, is Commonwealth legislation on insurance, displacing the various State Acts dealing with incorporation of such companies. "I have read a great deal in London papers concerning bush fires. These reports arc greatly exaggerated, and not a word has been said on the increased fertility of the soil after a bush fire, or (he great recuperative possibilities of our land. "Again, people do not know that once a lire has cleaned up a district there is no likelihood, or even possibility, of another bush lire for many years to come. The splendid rains which have fallen lately have assured a splendid harvest for this year. "The more I understand general conditions here tho more I regret that comparatively so few people emigrate to Australia and secure for themselves a share of its wealth. Of course, all the possibilities of our country have been insisted on so often that I need not repeat anything. All I can say is that our vast lands and small population are the very opposite to overcrowded England, and that an adjustment would benefit both countries enormously. Italian Settlors in Queensland. "I am, naturally, unreservedly in favour of a white Australia, and a British Australia. But, on the other hand, the arrival of several thousand Italians, who have gone to the sugarcane fields of Queensland, is, in my opinion, a good thing. This kind of work, in the climate which is found there, does not appeal to Britishers. And why should they go to the sugar fields, or the Northern Territory when there is so much land and work in regions where conditions are more to their liking? The Italians, on the olher hand, thrive in sugar-cane fields. They work very hard, and finally they become land owners. The community system under which they work is also good for us, for they soon become producers, and the sugar which they put on the market benefits both our business and our population. Their number, after all, is not big enough to influence the great British preponderance in Australia. "1 hope that the new Commonwealth Immigration Board will do something special for West Australia, as the population is so thin there that part of our continent is a danger spot and its fertile lands cry out for development.

"One of the finest things in connection with migration is the Big Brother Movement. It is splendid to get these fine boys there before they have developed fixed ideas, and to get them acclimatised and settled under the guidance of men of standing, influence and experience who have their little brothers' success at heart. "Every nerve should be strained to make this movement the really big thing it should be and could be. It would be a true blessing for the boys of this country and for Australia."