WHERE LABOUR RULES.

Manawatu Herald, Volume XLIII, Issue 2357, 19 November 1921, Page 4

WHERE LABOUR RULES.

CONDITIONS IN BRISBANE.

BUSINESS STAGNATION.

GAMBLING SPIRIT RIFE.

The effects of Labour government in Queensland, as reflected in the business and social conditions of Brisbane, are the subject of interesting comment by an Auckland resident who has been some weeks in Brisbane. Writing to a friend, the Aucklander says': “Things are said to be in a bad way in the business world here. No business doing, and

no money. The hotels are all practically empty, and resorts such as Coolangatta nearly deserted.' Nearly everybody is ‘broke,’ including the infamous Government, whose record for ineptitude and cynical disregard for the rights of the' people probably has never been equalled in Australasia. At present the Government is trying to remove three Supreme -Court judges from the Bench so that it can install its own nominees in the vacant positions. A newspaper regarded as the Government, mouthpiece, commenting on the matter,, candidly says: ‘The judiciary must be within the reach of the people, so that the people can pull them down if they do not administer the law in accordance with the ideas of democracy.’ In other words, only decisions that please the mob are to be given. “A State lottery, ‘The Golden Casket,’ is the one State enterprise here that has been a success. Its popularity is tremendous. Half the shops in the State seem to sell the tickets. The Government office of the ‘Casket’ in Brisbane is crowded all day with people buying tickets in the great gamble. The other day, having a share in a lottery ticket, I went to see it drawn. When one saw the motley crowd, comprising many women, unemployed, and those of the ‘spieler’ class there, one realised to what straits the Government had been reduced for money. “There is a race meeting of some sort apparently nearly every week in Brisbane. The town swarms with bookbakers, spielers and racing touts of all descriptions, who line the pavements of the main street from one end to the other, smoking cigarettes, talking racing and betting, and eyeing every woman and girl who passes. The better class women and girls in Brisbane are seldom seen in the streets; there is no ‘doing tile block’ like there is in Sydney and Melbourne.”