MICROSCOPIC VIEW

Hokitika Guardian, 19 February 1932, Page 6

MICROSCOPIC VIEW

HIGHLY CRITICAL ANALYSIS OF

AUSTRALIA

ECONOMIC CRISIS'

LONDON, February 12

“Australia lacks an elite. They do not know the pleasures of the spirit, and being incapable of interior life, therefore lead an outdoor life,” says George Ferres, in another of lbs series of very critical articles of “The Economic Crisis in the, Antipodes.” “He will not let a vehicle pass him,” continues the article. “He drinks gin, indulges in sport, gambles on racecourses, but does not realise that life can give a greater satisfaction. That is why Australians cannot conceive the gratuitous pleasures of the hearth, conversation, books, and thought. “Everyone may spend freely; everyone pays dearly for the smallest service. The Government for years itas spent £lO where £5 would suffice, thus maintaining an artificial prosperity based on nothing.

“Its latest error is an attempt at industrialisation • of the continent, which is going to consume Australian products. They make, or pretend to make, all they need, raising high tariffs in order to give their people the advantages of a country that nothing can enter. They think themselves strong, hut their superb isolation is only the commencement of their difficulties, as they have not escaped the inlluence of European markets, where wages are infinitely lower.

“Australia has been said to illustrate the fable of the grasshopper a n d the ant. Britain, when the had years came, asked what Australia had done with her money, and requested an examination of accounts. The missions of Sir Arthur Duckham and Sir Otto Niemeyer followed, hut knowing the Australian temperament and the penchant for the least effort, the former mission was probably sceptical of the acceptance of their words of wisdom. There was too great a demand for public credit for financial enterprises to give the country a modern gait.

“These enterprises paid neither expenses nor interest, and thus the community bore the loss, entailing an increased cost of living.

“The political ..system of nationalisation by Draconian trades union statutes and uniform wages have killed private initiative, and it is now necessary to follow natural laws, to return to private initiative, reduce wages, and renew commercial relations abroad by the adaptation of selling prices at world values. “If this were done the people of the continent would quickly assure a home market. AVherever one looks Australia is bound hv a chain of facts which threaten to break her. Dare she break those chains?”