"THE RACE TO RUIN."

Dominion, Volume 5, Issue 1436, 10 May 1912, Page 3

"THE RACE TO RUIN."

UNIONISTS IN BUSINESS. BROKEN HILT/8 DISASTROUS EXPERIMENTS. Broken Hill is pretty well known throughout Australia as the place whore things seem to happen more suddenly and more often than in any other part of tho country. That city (says the Sydney "Evening News") progressed a century nearer Socialism tnan any other town. It has a well-to-do working population of strong radical proclivities ana has the advantage of separation from the rest of the world to work out its own tut lire. The townspeople opened out into active business as the communistic owners of bakeries and wood-yards. The result has been remarkable. ft is seldom in the annals of commerce that so much money has been lust in so short a period. The whole story is told in special balancesheets .prepared by the auditors, 51essrs. Cameron and Pic-ken, who have reported on the Combined Unions' business ventures at tho request of the Barrier Labour Federation. THE BAKERY. Some time ago the Combined Unions purchased a flourishing bakery business, and started out to introduco the millennium per medium of the two-pound loaf. The auditors' report sl-.jws that since this bakery was started in June, 1009, with money taken out of the lock-out fund, it has averaged a loss of .£22 imt week, or a total of .£2276. This loss is mentioned as an average. As a matter of fact it was more in the nature of an avalanche.

In the last six months the total money lost was .MlO6, or at the rate of over .£4O per week. The auditors sum tip the situation thus:—"Wo consider that there must have been great waste and theft of goods and cash, tite only other possibility being neglect to charge up goods to custom on credit to tho extent of hundreds of pounds. This alternative, however, w,e have every reason to bclicvo did not obtain." On the balance-sheet appears the sum of .£2OO paid by the Barrier Labour Fedoration to the auditors as a fee for audit and investigation. This at first sight may seem heavv, but it is really little to pay for a report so full to the brim with interesting and even exciting information. THE WOOD-YARD. The history of the wood-yard is the historv of the bakery, only more so. Here the" liabilities total ,£3746, over .£SOO more than the loss on the bakery. The auditors hope that out of the assets some ,£950 will be obtained in actual cash. The auditors give tho unions their, choice of five alternatives which may have resulted in the loss: 1. Overweight, on weighbridge. 2. Scnding'oiit goods without cart note. 3. Entering smaller quantities of goods than were actually sent out. 4. Theft of goods. 5. Lack of supervision of goods allowed as having been received. GENERAL COMMENTS. "The Barrier Jtincr," in commenting on the situation, says that the bakery was originally started with the assistance of .£9lO taken from the lock-out fund, this being the fund subscribed for the hungry wives and children of the unemployed workers. The wood-yard obtained or.ly .6700 of . this money. "The Barrier slinor" adds: "However, they got there just the same, as they finished on the post with ,£27M-the wood-yard winning the race to ruin by .£SOO. Deducting the amount of the original capital (which will not be repaid) from the total deficiency to be made good, it works out that the sum to bo made up was .CafKIG less the .£9lO (bakerv) and .£7OO (wood-yard) hauls out of the lock-out fund, leaving the sum of .£3456 to be made up by the unions." In order to repay these moneys a levy has been made of 13s. Id. per head on every unionist in the Barrier Labour 1-cd-eratiou. It is anticipated that the Australian Miners' Association will have to pay about .£3OOO out of its.funds.