DEPRESSION IN AUSTRALIA

Hokitika Guardian, 28 December 1929, Page 2

DEPRESSION IN AUSTRALIA

FEW OUTWARD SIGNS. GOOD RAINS IN VICTORIA. CHRISTCHURCH, December 26. “Everybody will tell one in Melbourne that the Commonwealth is suffering a depression, but I must soy that I saw few outward signs df it,” said Mr John Rhodes, who was seen by a reporter yesterday on his return from a brief visit to Australia. Mr Rhodes was a passenger by the Manuka on her last voyage to Melbourne. “It was a frightful trip,” said Mr Rhodes. “We had a stong head wind all the way, and the vessel had to lay-to on one occasion. The ship was 36 hours late in reaching Melbourne.” Most of the business people seemed very nervous in tbe Victorian capital, but he saw nobody who appeared to be destitute. Italians and Greeks seemed to be doing all the work in Melbourne, a development which was displeasing the native-born Australian. Melbourne was growing rapidly, and building was going forward apace. Mr Rhodes said he was impressed by, the enormous new building of the.-National Bank of Australasia. Another striking spectacle was the tall tower which was being added to tbe premises of one of the insurance companies.

Afr Rhodes visited the western districts of Victoria, and found the country looking exceptionally well. An unusual spell of westerly winds, which brought rain, had proved of great benefit. Wheat and oat crops were promising well, and the prospects were a good deal brighter for a heavy yield than they appeared to be in tbe Dominion. While*Victoria had had bounteous rains, the other States had not been so fortunate.

Tbe Malice country was suffering from a drought so prolonged that many people were leaving it, and farmers in other districts were grazing free stock from the stricken area.

On one farm of 10,000 acres in Victoria, 300 tons of superphosphate were being used annually for top-dressing, the results being extraordinary. This year 4,700 fat lambs had been turned off the holding, and 2000 head of cattle from Queensland were fattened on it annually. Mr Rhodes saw evidence of a great enthusiasm for horticulture in Melbourne and Ballarat, not only among the wealthy classes, but also in the ranks of those in a humble walk of l’.ife. He had rarely seen such beautiful roses as those growing in Ballarat, and the public gardens there almost put ours in the shade. The old mining town did not appear decadent, the h'nhabi,tanks having achieved a safe transfer from gold mining to remunerative agricultural pursuits. In the country he found some apprehension about the results of the preponderance of voting strength in the cities, and it was feared that the small representation of the rural districts in the Parliaments of Australia would adversely affect them, and consequently, the whole of the Commonwealth.