The Hokitika Guardian WEDNESDAY, JAN. 4th, 1922. THE AUSTRALIAN OUTLOOK.

Hokitika Guardian, 4 January 1922, Page 2

The Hokitika Guardian WEDNESDAY, JAN. 4th, 1922. THE AUSTRALIAN OUTLOOK.

The latest year book of Australia is described as one of the conipletest of the series and affords a wealth of information as to the past, present and future outlook of the Commonwealth. The Lyttelton Times in commenting on the publication remarks that on looking over the pages of the new volume, it is interesting to bear in mind that Australia and Australian institutions have many hostile critics in this country. Some of that criticism of course, has reason behind it. For in stance, the steady tendency of Australian population to concentrate in metropolitan areas bespeaks, to most intelligent outsiders some flaw in the philosophy of government. When we read that more than half the population of Victoria, is domiciled in Melbourne; that 42.89 per cent of the people of New goutli Wales live in Sydney, and 47.04 per cent of the people of Western Australia in Perth, • while 43.10 per cent of the people of the Commonwealth live in six State capitals, we New Zealanders have a right to be proud of the fact that our own capital holds only 8.67 per cent of the population, and our four cities something under 30 per cent. Australia’s devotion to secondary industries, and her strongly protectionist fiscal policy if these can be properly blamed, seemed to produce a very lop-sided distribution of population. But in other respects the governmental record of Australia compares very favourably with that of this country. After spending about five hundred millions on the Great War, the net Australian national debt, Federal and State stood, at June 30th. 1920, at £770,429,215 or £145 7s 5d per head. New Zealand’s national debt at about the same period stood at £163 3s per head. Australian taxation, Federal and State averaged £lO 14s per head against £lB 9s per head in New Zealand. Our own Prime Minister quite recently had some caustic comments to offer on the railway administration in New South Wales but if Australian railways are fairly compared with those in New Zealand there seems to be little room for recriminations from this quarter. In the financial year ended June 31st., 1920, the Australian railways’ percentage of working expenditure to revenue was as shown in the following table, in which we have inserted the New Zealand percentage for precisely the same period :

New South Wales 73.15 South Australia 73.62 Victoria 73.66 New Zealand 75.60 Tasmania ‘ 77.08 Queensland 87.16 Western Australia 87.29

In recent months the Australian railways, or some of them, have reputedly made a worse showing, our own railways have also showed reduced returns. For the last financial year working expenses swallowed 89.7 per cent of revenue and in the first half of the current financial year the proportiton of working expenses to revenue was 107.8 per cent. If the Australian railways are now beating this bad record they must indeed be badly managed,

but we shall have to wait for the latest statistics before condemning them on ' that score. However, railway administration is only a small part of the governmental activities of Australia, and a wider view of the 'Commonwealth’s problems and ahievements, such as is rendered possible by the new annuary gives more ground for compliment than for criticism.