AUSTRALIA

Nelson Evening Mail, Volume LXIV, 20 January 1931, Page 9

AUSTRALIA

DEPRESSION NOT APPARENT 5 l TO ANY MARKED DEGREE l LIFE AT CANBERRA , “In all directions in Australia at - the present time one will hear fhe ■ praises of New Zealand sung,” re ■ marked Conductor Watson to a Wanga- , nui “Herald” representative. “It is held up by prominent men as a model little : country.” Quite a lot of news has been broadcast throughout the world regard-, ing conditions in Australia, some of it. true, and a good deal of it untrue, con-1 tinued Mr Waison. Public men were 1 alarmed about some of the statements, j and at the present time were doing their best to throttle the circulation of harmful news. It was true that thore , was depression, but to travel through : j Sydney one would never think it existed. J The picture shews and music halls were ( I filled daily. One thing that helped the j 1 working classes in the country at the j present time was the splendid harvest. 1

It had been a wonderful season and the wheat crops bad been very prolific. , Wages ir. the harvest field had been re-1 duced by the farmers themsolves. They ignored the arbitration awards and said lo the men: “There is the work: take it or leave it,” and the offer of employ-; ment was readily accepted. j Referring to Canberra, Mr Watson' said it was a peculiar place to live in. j The population of 11,000 was mainly! comprised of civil servants. There was '

not the same community spirit that existed in other towns and cities. In Canberra there was more reliance on the Stale. For instance, with the Canberra Band the ararngements were mors of a routine nature and mechanical an order coming for the band to be at a certain place at a certain time. Something like routine orders in the army. There was not the same amount of enthusiasm as in, say, the Wanganui bands, wheie 1 prominent citizens threw their weight in behind them. The band was also subsidised by the State. Referring to the recent cable that

Hotel Canberra and other hotels with. large staffs were practically empty, J Mr Watson said that this was correct, j Hotel Canberra was built for the ex-. press purpose of catering for politicians and tourists. There was nothing in Canberra to hold tourists more than two days. In fact, with a motor car a person could see all that was to be seen in a day. Tf the hotels did not pay the cafes did. They had the best Christmas since the opening. Men simply swarmed in from the surrounding country and were given two days’ work before Christ- 1 1

mao. j-iiu uuvenuneM mignt, just, as well have given them a coupon without the work to go straight to the cafes, for the latter gob tho most of the proceeds of the two days’ work. j There was no freehold land in Can-! berra, all being on the leasehold system, and also tho surrounding farms. This land was bought at a cheap rate in the first place, and would eventually be a good asset of the State. Land in Canberra bought at so much per acre was now valued by the foot. Rents were dear, £2 9s a week being not uncommon, with half an acre of ground. To the: State employees this high rent did not' trouble them, for on being shifted there' they receive a living allowance of £39 per year and also a 20 per cent, reduc- 1 tion of rents. Politicians also receive a cut on their hotel expenses. There nre three shopping centres in Canberra. Pri-' vate enterprise does not flourish, ior the reason that a great many of the civil ‘ servants prefer to send to Sydney for j their goods and pay the freight. It has I been the intention to make Canberra a : garden city, but not with much success. I Talk about Wellington winds, said Mr! Watson, they are mild to the winds I sometimes experienced at Canberra, Aj good deal of tree planting had been done for shelter purposes. An abnormal growth of grass this season, necessitated putting men on to cut it in order to minimise the danger of fire do the trees, j Canberra has an efficient fire brigade, l but practically nothing for it to do. I I here is no incentive to apply a match to property there, for it belongs to the State.

By tlie way,” said Mr Watson, “Mr Lang s betting tax has not been a great success. Bookmakers simply transferred their operations to Victorian territory and so the object cf tho tax has been practically defeated.” to tlie musical side, Mr Watson said that tho depression, strange to say, had rather a good effect on brass bands. Tor instance, musicians who had been employed in theatres with Williamson s and others had now drifted back to the bands and strengthened their ranks. I here were very few first grade musicians in Sydney out of employment. There was the Gillies bequest of £IO,OOO for the pui-pose of encouraging school bands in Victoria. ct n m- 2 t °j the f° bands had already been established and more to follow, and they had their own contests. Some of these bands for juveniles had reached a high standard of efficiency. As far as he knew there was only one mouth organ h ’ ld in 4? s ‘ ra ji“» and that was at Gee-1 on.g, so that Wanganui schools led in 1 this respect. I