AUSTRALIA'S FUTURE

Press, Volume LX, Issue 11508, 14 February 1903, Page 7

AUSTRALIA'S FUTURE

CABLE SffiW&

A GLOOMY FORECAST. ANOTHER CRISIS PKEDIOTED. Uait«d Prcu Association—Sy Es«otrio Telegraph—Copyright. (Received February 13th, 10.12 p.m.) IX>NDON, FebruarjfclS. I Mr H. W. Wileon, , assistant editor of ; the "Daily Mail, ,, in a series of articles, anticipates an Australian crisis exceeding that of 1893 , , arising from perpetual borrowing, the policy of hindering immigra- I '• tion and maintaining a notations wagerate, ami the drought. He estimates that i , eleven millions will have been expended on unproductive works in the five years ending March, 1904. Retrenchment had been < ' confined to national defences, and the in- j debtednees had beep incurred in maintain* f ing the worker in comfort and affluence, while the worker regarded a newcomer merely as a competitor for wages within i hie own loan-maintained paradise. Despite the deficits, a policy of relief works and: old age pensions had been adopted. Australia ought to have grown oad. developed like a giant, but the birth-rate was steadily declining, and loss by emigration in tne last two years had exceeded the gain by immigration. The Socialist* hud ewayed the past policy, and were now seen to be. steering Australia to not distant or uncertain ruin.