LABOR IN QUEENSLAND.

Taranaki Daily News, 11 December 1922, Page 2

LABOR IN QUEENSLAND.

‘ LOAFERS’ PARADISE BILL. ’ ’ MR. G. J. BLACK’S IMPRESSIONS. If any doubt existed in the minds of people in this country concerning the fruits of the Labour Goveramat 4ft Queensland, it should be dispelled by the information .placed before a Giftborne Times’ reporter in the course of an interview with Mr. Gw J. fel&ck, who has just returned from a visit to that country. The Labour Government, he said, had been in -power «for four or five years and during that time had gone to the 'bad in their finances by over £8,000,600. The railways were at present showing a deficiency of about £2,500,000, whereaa, before the Labour Government took office, they had always paid a handsome dividend on theit operations. This losB was not due to any reduction in freights ahd fares; as a matter Of fact, all charges in connection with the railways had been substantially increased under the Labour regime. The loss had been incurred Iby putting two men on to do one man’s job, and then not getting the job done. The taxation in the State per head was heavier than in any other Sta .e, and this, Coupled with the constant Labour troubles, was driving many industries Out; of the State altogether. Wen Mr. Ryan was Premier, he gax-e out that he Would make the ‘T>eef barons,” as he called the cattle men, “squeal.” He started in to buy cattle stations, and took about a dozen, paying as much as £8 per head, walk in, walk out. The State lost money on those Stations from the Start, and today they were not worth £2 per head; and, in fact, were unsaleable. The State had lost a cool £2,000,006 oh the deal, and now it was the Government who were squealing. The incontrovertible fact was that on every State enterprise they had gone down, as for example with sawmills, trawlers, coal mines, meat shops, etc. Then the Government passed a Basie Wage Bill, which threw mahy thousands of men out of employment on the back stations, and they had an army of unemployed to feed. The bill for rations for Qiese men came to £lBO,OOO. They had just passed a Bill khttWn as the “Loafers’ Paradise Bill,” which compelled people to employ these men whether they wanted to or not. Some time ago, they wiped out the Upper House, and with the use of the “gag,” they could now pass any kind of legislation they desired. As- they had only a -majority of one in the House, they passed a Bill through to allow voting by proxy; they had found this much easier than having to carry sick men in on stretchers,, as they had on one cxcasion, to prevent a vote of Uo-coflidenCc 'being carried. The Government, said Mr. Black, had still another year to run, but it was almost certain that they would be turned out at the next election.