HUMOUR STRIKES.

Manawatu Herald, Volume L, Issue 3903, 5 February 1929, Page 1

HUMOUR STRIKES.

ROUGH ON AUSTRALIA. A SWEDISH VIEW. A caustic Scandinavian opinion on Australia’s economic position is indicated by an article written by Hjalmar Bengstron, a Swedish ecpnomist, which was published in the Swedish journal “Cominonsense” in October.

“Swedish and other Scandinavian peoples,” the economist says, “are warned against migration to Australia owing to the possibility of persistent industrial trouble. It is i-ega.rded with, truth in Sweden, that Australia is the working man’s paradise. Happy conditions, however, are marred by the tendency to strike, even when it is quite unnecessary. So the prosperity of the worker for which Australia is famous is seriously threatened. “The strike is a policy of irritation practised to show Labour’s domination of the capitalist. This is pex-haps understood when it is remembered that the Labour population of the Comntonwealtii is undoubtedly influenced by the result of the convict colonising with which Australia began its economic history. The tendency of the Australian unionist is to give as little as possible in return for the highest possible wage. This must end in disaster. The tendency to laziness null prevent the development so necessary in a country where hard work is the only condition of success.

“In our country we should describe the Australian strike as a ‘humour’ strike; it is invariably petty and purely mischievous. So it is unwise for people who are gifted for hard work to go to Australia, as all good work seems to be discouraged.” The writer briefly traces the histoi’y of Australia from the convict days, through the gold rush period, and deplores the existing “over-po-pulating of the cities,” adding: — “There seems to be lacking the real energy needed for development. This may be due to the climate, but it is due chiefly to the selfishness of the workers.” High tariff walls are set upi and huge loans negotiated, and we are beginning to see the end of a false economic policy. It will ,need a hard-working population to keep the Asiatic menace in check. The Navigation Act is a hindrance to progress owing to the high freight costs it has fostered. It is cheaper to send timber from Scandinavia to Australia than from Tasmania to any mainland port. “Socialistic experiments have cost enormous sums of money without giving an adequate return in development. There are signs now of economic chaos, which is inevitable when a nation cannot control the workers upon whom the real wealth of the country depends. High wages tend to increase the policy of the strike because the wage earners can afford to strike. There seems to be a feeling that high wages must he maintained by a high tariff wall instead of by good craftsmanship. Men of Sweden are advised to learn from the evils of Australian trade, unionism.”