WAKE UP, AUSTRALIA!'

Dominion, Volume 9, Issue 2717, 11 March 1916, Page 15

WAKE UP, AUSTRALIA!'

'IRON'PIONEER'S ADVICE, with 'its own industries v? i?MV- OUS Pj People is-the dream of Air. William. Sandford, senior, the pioneer of the iron industry in New South wales. Mr. Sandford was a passenger by the Sierra, which arrived from San 1! rancisco recently. He went as far as Now York with his son, Flight-Lieu-tenant isandford, who lias now gone to the front, and he also, while in San J! rancisco, took over the business interests of his brother, who died recently. Mr Sandford (says ,the Sydney bun ) is more than ever convinced, after visits to the great steel works of America, that Australia is only a babe among the nations, and that its manhood means enormous wealth and numbers. He believes that Auslra'ia might well follow the example of Ai.ier ica in the matter of industrial reveiopnjent. Australia must pay more attention to her raw material and to its conversion into the' manufactured article. when 1 started the ironworks at Lithgow, ' ho said, "I had the conviction that Australia would have to fight some daj - —I would not have started those works if I had not believed that ' Australia, should still go ahead working up to preparedness. That i= What the Americans are doing' everywhere, and I must say that I admlio them for it. They are building the largest ships and turning out enormous rjuantities of munitions, not all of which is going to the Allies. : Australia by this time should have had great work'j everywhere; and when we sent awav the cream of the country's manhood we should have supplied them with ~,he best munitions of- war. We haVe the raw material—l demonstrated that at Lithgow. what is now wanted is t<f have that matorial, mado up into ••iAciunerv and guns and ships. ' That can bo done by two' thnigs—preparedness and a tariff. Tho tariff could be in tho uhape of a surcharge to make up the difference between the wages paid here and in other countries. "America will be prepared for anything that occurs. At Mare 'skid,. California, thousands of miles from tho source of supply of the raw material, 1 saw a, warship in course of construction, which, when built, will be the largest afloat. Consider what wo could do"Ixro ff tlie Parramatta River were, as I have advocated for years, the home of the shipbuilding industry! We have iron, coal, limestone, and popper all here, and we cannot make a pound of copper wire or a sheet of copper! We want to wake up and prepare. -Vith her duties America has the best machinery in the world, and can make iier material up oheaper than other countries. The only way Australia can get cheap goods is by having her own industries. This suit of tweed lam 'wearing took mo all over America. It was made in Austria, and I would not have had it except for the tariff. Let us extend the usefulness of the tariff, and then we will havo millions of people here." 3lr. Sandford visited Ford's motor works, which, he said, .are run on a wonderful system. "But," he asked, "why can't we make our own motorcars? Tho Americans have the highest tariff in the world for motor-cars, and yet make the cheapest cars. AVe can assemble parts as cheaply; as any other place. Why don't we?"