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Queensland Parliamentary Debates [Hansard] Legislative Assembly THURSDAY, 28 AUGUST 1941 Electronic reproduction of original hardcopy

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Page 1: Legislative Assembly THURSDAY AUGUST - … Bhire .. Hinchinbrook Shire .. Inglewood Shire Ipswich City .. J ohnstone Shire J ondaryan Shire Kilcoy Shire .. Kilkivan Shire Kingaroy

Queensland

Parliamentary Debates [Hansard]

Legislative Assembly

THURSDAY, 28 AUGUST 1941

Electronic reproduction of original hardcopy

Page 2: Legislative Assembly THURSDAY AUGUST - … Bhire .. Hinchinbrook Shire .. Inglewood Shire Ipswich City .. J ohnstone Shire J ondaryan Shire Kilcoy Shire .. Kilkivan Shire Kingaroy

104 Question8. [ASSEMBLY.] Questions.

THURSDAY, 28 AUGUST, 1941.

Mr. SPE•AKER (Hon. E. J. Hanson, Buranda) took the chair at 10.30 a.m.

APPROPRIATION BILL, No. 1.

Assent reported by Mr. Speaker.

QUESTIONS.

GOLDEN CASKET AGENTS AND COMMISSION, 1940-41.

Mr. NIMMO (Oxley) asked the Secretary for Health and Home Affairs-

'' J. How many Golden Casket agents arc there in (a) Brisbane; (b) elsewhere in the State?

'' 2. \Vhat was the total commission paid in 1940-41 to (a) Brisbane agents; (b) other agents in Queensland (in each case excluding the Golden Investment Com­pany); (c) the Golden Investment Com­pany?''

Tile TREASURER (Hon. F. A. Cooper, Bremer), for Tile SECRETARY l<'OR HEALTH AND HO liE AFFAIRS (Hon. E. M. Hanlon, Ithaca), replied-

"]. (a) 182; (b) 280.

"2. (a) £64,650 9s. 10d.; (b) £4i,240 3s. 10d; (c) £]2,191 19s. 10d."

COnTPENS.n'ION CLAL\fS, TOOWOO:VIBA R.I='!GE RAIL ACOIDEN1'.

Mr. YEATES (East Toowoomba) asked the :\Iinister for Transport-

'' 1. Hm·e any claims been received by the Railway Department for compensation in connection with the Toowoomba Range smash on 26 January last?

'' 2. If so, have any been settled?''

The MINISTER FOR TRANSPORT (Hon. J. Larcombe, Rockhamptou) replied-

" 1. Yes. '' 2. Six claims have been settled and

four arc under consitlpration.''

REPORT OF TAXATION b:QUJRY Co:M1iiSSION.

:iUr. NICI{LIN (Murrumba) asked the Premier-

'' 1. Has the report of the Commission of Inquiry on Taxation been finalisecl'!

'' 2. Will it be made available to this House? If so, when~"

Tire PRElUIER (Hon. W. Forgan Smith, l\Tackay) replied-

"1. No.

'' 2. Yes; as soon as possible after it is received. The repol't is now in cll'aft form.''

REPORT OF ~WOOL ADVISORY CoMllfiSSIOX.

Mr. NICKLIN (Murrumba) asked the Premier-

'' Is it proposed to implement any of the recommendations of the l'i' ool Advisory Commission 9 If so, which?''

Tlte PREMIER (Hon. W. Forgan Smith, l\fackay) replied-

'' It is not the practice to make state­ments of policy in reply to questions. I would refer the hon. member to my reply to a similar question asked on 28 August last year.''

LOAN CoNVERSIONs, 1940-41.

l\Ir. NICKLIN (Murrumba) asked the Treasurer-

'' 1. What are the particulars of Queens­land loan conversions in 1940-41 9

"2. What is the annual saving in interest due to such conversions 9

"3. \Vhat was the saving in 1940-4H"

The TREASURER (Hon. F. A. Cooper, Bremer) replied-

'' 1. Commomvealth Government instal­ment stock held by the Commonwealth Sav­ings Bank-£2,619,240--matured 1 October, 1940 bearing interest at £3 2s. per cent. per ~nnum was converted into similar stock bearing interest at £3 per cent. per annum, and repayable by half-yearly instalments, with a final instalment of £1,685,782 due 1 October, 1960.

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Questions. [28 AuGusT.] Papers. 105

'' 1. £2,619 per annum on amount con­verted.

"3. £1,304."

ALLOCATIONS OF HEAVY VEHICLE :B'EES, 1940-41.

Mr. WALKER (Cooroora) asked the 'l'reasurer-

'' 1. In 1940-41, what amounts of fees paid in respect of heavy vehicles were allocated to (a) the Main Roads Commis­sion; (b) local authorities; and (c) con­solidated revenue?

'' 2. What are the details of the alloca­tions to local authorities?''

The TREASURER (Hon. F. A. Cooper, Bremer) replied-

"1. (a) £17,828 13s.; (b) £9,438 Os. 7c1.; (c) £26,081 7s. 8d.

''2.-

Local Authority. ----

Atherton Shire Beau desert Shire Beenleigh Shire Booringa Shire Bowen Town Brisbane City Bundaberg City Bungil Shire .. Burrum Shire Caboolture Shire Cairns City .. Cambooya Shire Cardwell Shire Chinchilla Shire Cleveland Shire Coolangatta Town DalbY Town .. Drayton Shire Eacham Shire Esk Shire Fitzroy Shire Gladstone Town Glengallan Shire Gooburrnm Shire Gympie City .. Herberton Shire Highficlds Bhire .. Hinchinbrook Shire .. Inglewood Shire Ipswich City .. J ohnstone Shire J ondaryan Shire Kilcoy Shire .. Kilkivan Shire Kingaroy Shire Kolan Shire .. J,aidley Shire .. Landsborough Shire Livingstone Shire Mackay City .. Maroochy Shire Maryborough City Millmerran Shire i\Jiriam Yale Shire .. Mount Morgan Shire M:urgon Sl1ire N anango Shire N erang Shire K oosa Shire .. Kormanby Shire Perry Shire .. Pine Shire .. Pioneer Shire . . Pittsworth Shire Redeliffe Town Rockhampton City Roma To,vn .. Rosalie Shire Tamborine Shire

Amount.

£ s. d. 20 11 9

6 2 7 20 3 s 64 18 11 18 0 0

4,495 13 6 78 16 8

120 2 3 22 11 10

136 14 7 144 10 6

2 18 11 1 0 0

25 14 11 7 11 1 2 4 2

22 11 1 7 19 5 0 5 0 0 7 1 3 11 10

25 5 8 53 0 7 14 ~ 7

117 6 2 2 4 4 7 8 7 4 16 8 0 11 9

817 3 1 134 8 10 181 10 9

37 2 6 7 9 1

24 0 6 5 5 9

13 13 0 0 12 10 2 4 11

83 0 9 37 8 2 84 9 9 2R 9 6

2 11 0 18 16 2

6 15 1 9 ., 1 10 1 1 fj 8 0 18 0 2 2 0 4 12 7

24 12 9 89 3 5 44 17 7

457 2 11 10 17 8 66 5 11

278 9 10

Local Anthority.

Tara Shire Tiara Shire .. Tingalpa Shire Toowoomba City Townsville City Wambo Shire Warwick City Widgee Shire W ondai Shire Woothakata Shire

Amount.

£ 8. d. 48 0 1

4 11 10 4 7 5

734 7 s 381 5 3 279 16 0

45 9 11 36 15 10

l 15 11 5 8 3

£9,438 0 7

''The allocations are stTictly in accord­ance with the terms of the Acts governing same. 'fhe Commissioner of :\fain Roads uses the portion paid to the Main Roads Fund for maintenance of roads and relief to local authorities on account of the con­tributions which would otherwise be clue by tho local authOTities for maintenance.''

TAX CoLLECTIONs, 1940-41.

lUr. WALKER (Cooroora) asked the Treasurer-

'' What were the tax collections in 1940-41 (inc1ucling trust funds) under tne classifications used by the Commonwealth Statistician 9''

The TREASURER (Hon. F. A. Cooper, Bremer) replied-

'' Paid into consolidated reYenue-

Income tax Income (State development)

tax Land tax Probate and

duties Stamp duty

succession

Motor taxation Other-licenses, &c.

Paid into trust funds­

Motor taxation Other-licenses, &c.

£ 3,966,399

2,369,883 407,673

550,806 538,131

90,20ll 243,194

964,242 80,647

£9,211,177

''Whilst license fees, registration fees, and items of an analogous nature are classified by the Commonwealth Statistician as taxation, it is obvious that revenue from these sources represents fees paid for ser­vices rendered.''

PAPERS. 'l'he follo,ving paper was laid on the table,

ancl ordered to be printed:-

Report of the Auditor-General under the Supreme Court Funds Act of 1895.

The following papers were laid on the table:-

Regulation under the Workers' Compensa­tion Acts, 1916 to 1939.

:B'ifty-third annual report of the Queens­land Trustees Limited.

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106 Supreme Court Act, &c., Bill. [ASSEMBLY.] Income Tax, &c., Bill.

BILLS OF SALE AC'l'S AMENDMl~N'l' BILL.

INI'J'JATIO='f.

The ATTORNEY-GENERAL (Hon. J. 0 'Keefc, Caims) : I move-

'' That the Home will, at its next sitting, rcsoh-e itself into a Committee of the Who]p to COJisider of the desirabl0ncss of intro<1ucing· a Bill to mnend the Bills of Sale Acts, 1891 to ] 89n, in certain par­ticulars. ' '

}Iotiou :1grce;] to.

QC EENSLAND LAW SOCIETY AC'l'S Al\IEND::\IEN'l' BILL.

IKITIATIO='f.

T.IJe ATTORNEY-GENERAij (Hon. J. O'Kcefe, Cairns): I move-

'' That the House will, at its next sitting, resolve itself into a Committee of the Whole to consider of the desirableness o£ intro­rlucing a Bill to anfend the Quecnslaml Law Society Acts, 19:30 to 1939, in cntain partir-ulars. ''

::\d:otion agreed to.

JuS'l'ICES ACTS AMENDMENT BILL. INITIATION.

The ATTORNEY-GENERAL (Hon. J. 0 'Keufe, Cairns) : I move-

'' That the House will, at its next sitting, resoh-e itself into a Committee of the Whole to consider of the desirableness of introdueing a Bill to amend the Justices Acts, 1886 to 1932, in certain particulars, and for other purposes.''

Motion agreed to.

ART UXJON REGULATION ACT AMENDMENT BILL.

INITIA~'ION.

The ATTORNEY-GENERAL (Hon. J. 0 'Keefe, Cairns) : I move-

'' That the House will, at its next sitting, resolve itself into a Committee of the ·whole to consider of the desirableness of introducing a Bill to amend the Art Union Regulation Act of 1930 in certain parti­culars.''

Motion agreed to.

SUPRE'Y1E COuR'l' ACT AJ\IEND'YrENT BILL.

INITIATION.

The ATTORNEY-GENERAL (Hon. J. 0 'Keefe, Cain1s): I move-

'' That the House \Yill, at its next sitting, resoh-e itself into a Committee of the Whole to cousi<ler o£ the desimbleness of introducing rr Bill to amenrl the Supreme Court Act of 1921 in a certain parti­cular.''

Motion agreed to.

INCO::\IE TAX ASSESS::\IENT ),CT A::\IEND::\mNT BILL.

]:-.'ITIATIOX IX CO:IB!IT~'EE.

(Mr. Gair, South Brisbane. in the clu,ir.)

The TREASURER (Hon. F. A. C-ooper, Bnmer) (10.44 a.m.): I move-

'' That it is desimble that a Hill lJe introduce I to amend the Ineollll' T"x Assessment Act of 193:; in cerb1in par­ticulars.''

The Bill is a simple one. It pro>irles that the State may make arrangements whereLy State income tax may be colleetc<l by instal­nwnts.

The collection of income tax lw instal­ments is not an entirely new idea i~ Queens­lam!. Federal income tax has been collected by instalments in C8l·tain cases since the beginning of the year, and it is now highly desirable that the State should fa11 into line with the Commomvealth and coiled income tnx in certain cirenmstnnces by in.stalments. The object of the Bill is sim·piy to give the power :md authority to enable that to be done. I should state, and l should state it Yer:v clcnl'ly, that no amendment of the Aet in any other diredion is proposed. The Bill merelv enlarg·es the Art in such a wav that it will be possible for the State to ·~·ollect income tax by instalments from people who are in rerPipt o£ wages and salarirs, and also from other people who desire to pay their income tax by instalment~. The anangement >Yill follow practically on exactly thP liaes laid rlmYn under the Commonwealih Act. The on! v 'ariation will oc -·m where the State Inco1~1e Tax Assessment Aet Yar·ies from the Confmonwealth Income Tax Assess­ment Act in connection with exemptions an<1 similar matters.

'l'he State will >vork closely with the Com­monwealth in this matter, and authority will be given by the Bill for that purpose·. As hon. members are a 'I\ are, the Federal and State Income Tax Offices arc one. That is, the Commissioner of Ta..xes for the State is the Deputy Com·missioner of Taxation for the Commonwealth in this State, and one set of officers does the work for both Governments, an anangement that has been found to be highly serviceable to both the Commomwalth and the State. This amendment of the Act will merely allow the State to come into line 11'ith the Commonwealth in the colkction of ineome tax by instalments. That is the sole object of the n1easme. At this sta:-,e T need. not say anything further than that, for that is the object of the Bill. When wP get tu the sceonr1 reading and Committee stages the details of the methods to be adopted will be gi.-en, but that is really hardly necessary at this stage. All hon. members of the Com­mittee are well aware of the methods used by the Commonwealth in collecting income tax bv instalments. As this Bill will follow that practice very closely we will lea ,-e those details to a fmther stage of the Bill.

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Income Tax, &c., Bill. [28 AUGUST.] Address in Reply. 107

lUr. NICKLIN (Murrumba) (10.48 a.m.): As the Treasurer has said, this Bill is a Yery simple one, one that will introduce into the collection of State income tax the same t•roYision as has existed in the Commonwealth sphere and other States of this Commonwealth for a considerable time.

\\'hen this Bill was forecast it may have lecl some people to imagine-and hon. mem­bers of the Opposition hoped-that its pro­\isions would have extended to an alteration in the incidence of income tax in this State, more particularly in regard to company taxa­tion, the need for which has been stressed by this side of the Chamber for quite a number of years. Howeyer, that is not to be. I know I shall be out of order if I continue on those lines. I, therefore, confine myself to the simple amendment proposed.

The Opposition will offer no opposition to the Treasurer in what he proposes to do under this Bill. We are of opinion that it is a desirable amendment ham the point of Yiew of the taxpayer and from the point of ,-iew of the State also. The taxpayer will not be asked to pay a large lump sum at one periorl of the :vear, but 'vill be paying his tax in instalments throughout the year. The Treasurer, on the other hand, will have an even flow of reYenue throughout the financial :'caT. Previously, he had almost no income tax receipts in the early part of the year, the lmlk of it being· paid in the latter part. Therefore, from the point of view of the 'State Treasurer also, the Dill will be an advantage.

I do not know whether the Treasurer pro­poses to make a common ~tamp available to c·over payments to both Commonwealth and State under the BilL

The Treasurer: Yes.

JUr. ='II('J{LIN: The hon. gentleman men­tioned that some an-angement would he made for a joint payment, ancl I think it would he desirable to ]m ye a joint stamp issued. That practice has been followed in other States.

Tile Treasurer: There will be the one stamp.

~Ir. NICKLIN: I am pleased to hear that that provision will be included.

I was disappointed that the TreasurE'r did not ,give some information as to what basic deduction he proposed. I think it would be of advantage if he told us \Yhat he intends.

The Treasurer: I told you there would be no alteration in the Act except to make provision for collection by instalments.

JUr. NICKLIN: The basic deductions are tnkE'n into account under the Commonwealth Act; there is an amount of 4s. a week in respect of each dependant. Has the State arrived at any amount that wouhl be allow­able to the taxpayer in that respect.

The Premier: The deductions will be the same as at present.

1\'Ir. NICKLIN: The total amount?

The Treasurer: Naturally, we will make allowances in the matter, as the Common­wealth does.

Mr. NICKLIN: I realise the State will make provision for that. I thought it would be of a.dvantage to the Committee if the 'l'rcasurer gave fuller information at this stage of the Bill.

I am glad that the Treasurer has brought dovrn the Bill in the early part of the session so that the deductions from salary will be spread over the greatest possible period of tllP financial Year. Under the Commonwealth Act, the year's ineome tax was collected in six months, whieh made the deductions yery heavy in some cases.

We will await further details of the Bill on the second reading stage. In the mean­time wo give it our blessing.

Motion (Mr. Cooper) agreed to.

Hesolntion reported.

FIRST READI,'\;G.

Bill presented and, on motion of Mr. Cooper, read a first time.

ADDRESS IN REPLY.

RESUl\!P'riO-' OF DEBATE-TIIliW ALLOTT'ED DAY.

Debate resumed from 27 August (see p. 104) on Mr. Devries 's motion for the adoption of the Address in Reply.

3Ir. DART (Wynnum) (10.56 a.m.): Mr. E'peaker, I wish first of all to offer you my hearty congratulations on your elevation ~o your very high office as Speaker of th1s Parliament. I am sure that with your past experience you will acquit yourself in a manner ·worthy of Parliament.

-:\fy congratulations are also tendered to His Excolleney the Go,-ernor, on the magnifi­<'ent work he is doing in the interests of the people of Queensland. Furthermore, I congratulate him on his reappointment as Governor for a further term. I am sure the people of this State will very much appre­ciate that extension. No other Governor of the State has taken such a great interest in the people of the State as Sir Les lie Wilson. During this period of war he has inspired the young men to volunteer for military service. He has also had a kindly "crd for the women and men who are help­ing in other ways to win this great conflict.

The Leader of the Opposition also is to be: congratulated on his appointment to the leadership of this party in this Parliament, anrl for the splendid speech he made on this motion. The hon. gentleman is a man of ability, and I am sure that his influence will be more fnllv felt in the future than in the past in this· House. He has the courage of his convictions and I am sure will make good. He has had the experience of fighting for his country, and a man who has done that will prove himself capable of doing something in the interests of the people he

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108 Address in Reply. [ASSElVIBLY.] Add1·ess in Reply.

represents. I wish him great success in this Parliament of Queensland.

I now reply to some of tho remarks the Premier and the 'l'reasurer ha Ye made this se ,sion. 'The Leader of the Opposition in r.ll good faith offered to co-operate with the Covenuncnt and help in th€ effort to win the war in addition to other matters. We had proof of this co-operation this morning en the ,-ery first Bill brought down, when he again offere<l his support and co-operation tn the Labour Government of Queensland.

I am sme that it is the intention of every hon. member of the Opposition to help the Govemment and to <lo his utmost in the interests of Queensland and the people he 1·crn·esents. ·we on this side are responsible to a certain extent to some of the people of (~ueensland for what passes through Parlia­ment. We shall always he ready to do what­ever we can to make this a better State in which to live.

Instead of accepting the offer of co-opera­tion from this side, the PTemiCT and the TreasureT ridiculed the Opposition. The l'remier had the audacity to call us the Cheap and Nasty Party. No Premier of any State should sink as low as the man in the gutter in naming another party. We could :find all sorts of JJamcs foT the Labour Party, using theiT initial letters, but we are above that soTt of thing. I have a gTeat deal of respect for the people who support the Labour Party. The word ''labour'' is one to be respected. After all, most of us are labourers. I should not have been in Parlia­ment to-day but for tlw labours of my hands and head. \Vhv should the Premier see :fit to gi'e our pa{.ty a wrong name? Ours is the Country-National Party.

The Premier also refened to us as the permanent Opposition. 1fany things can happen in this world, ancl iH' may be the G o'crnment before very long. The Premier has no right or authority for calling us the permanent Opposition. The electors will decide that question. If the leaders of the Government, the Premier and the Treasurer in pm·ticular, do not conduct themselves better than they have done since the begin­ning of this Parliament then I believe the people of Queensland will ask for the abolition of State Parliaments. vVe should uphold the respect and dignity of this Parliament, but I am sure that that has not boon done by those two leaders of the Government, both of whom hold responsible positions in this House.

The Treasurer was even worse than the Premier, and I propose to quote his own w·ords. He said-

'' The Opposition have no concern for anything else than diYidends and posses­sions. Nothing else seems to matter to these people. Hnman interests and the things that inspire the great effort being made to-day is of no avail to them.''

Those words nrc uritrue. It is an untruth for the Treasurer to refer to this side as men of that disposition, and I am sorry for his

mke that he made such a remark. To make matters worse, in his effort to ridicule the Opposition further he brings in the poet Kipling, a famous British author who wrote beautiful poetry and excellent prose. I suppose that worthy hon. gentleman has reatl some of his books; but he thought he woul<1 go better; he had the audacity to think that he could improve on Kipling. He gave us a parody on Kipling, and his attempt vms a disgrace, to my way of thinking. .f ust to annoy the Opposition he gave us these words-

'' Lord, God of Hosts, 0 give us yet­The dividends ;ye love to get.''

Th3 t does not reflect credit on a man who professes to be a Christian.

'l'lle Treasurer: Might I amend that and say-'' J\Iammon, our God"?

l\Ir. DART: I quoted the words he used. I trust that he and the Premier will mend their \mys. J\I :my of us believe that this was done for a purpose. There are new hon. members on the Government side of the House and it is tlle desire of the Treasurer and the Premier for them to go out ani! tell the public that >ve are different to what we arc. It is all propaganda in the intCl·ests of the Labonr Party and is of very little good to Pnrliament. I think that in the future these men should heed the warning given them and be above such petty sayings as they have been indulging it.

I am very much concerned for the welfare of Queensland. '\Ve are passing through ,·ery strenuous times and we should concen­trate our attention on the altered conditions that have been brought about by the war. We must remember, for instance, that we are suffering from the effects of a severe shortage of housing for our people. Our working men and their families are unable to :find accommodation in the city of Brisbane. The hon. member for Ca.rpentaria told us yesterday that there was an acute shortage of houses. As representatives of the people we should improve on the efforts \\ .. e ha:re made in the past by advancing more money for the purposes of the State Ad:rances Cor­poration so that the people of thi-; country may get the homes they want.

The Treasurer: What is wrong with priYate enterprise~

Mr. DART: Private enterprise is doing its part.

The Treasurer: Only where dividends are sufficient.

Mr. Nimmo: The Government frighten private enterprise too much.

The Tre.'l.surer: As a matter of fact, we help private enterprise.

lUr. DART: We should give every work­ino- man the opportunity of owning his ow11 ho~e. It makes for ·a better citizenship for peopl8 to live in their own homes. We know that there are those who have no chance of raising enough money to pa.y the cost of a dwelling, and we should lend mo~e.r at a reasonable rate so that our workmg

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Add1·ess in Reply. [28 AuausT.] Add1·ess in Reply. 109

people may have the opportunity of acqmnng their own houses. I admit that the Govern­ment have done something, but they could do much moYc. Last year only 489 homes ,1·ere erected through the Corporation at a total cost of £291,070. Dming the ~oming year we shall require more homes in this city, and I advise the Govemment to oiye serious considcra tion to the problem. :iYian v pri\·ate enterpl'iscs are so much taxell tha't they have no money to spend on building homes fOT the people. '

The rate of interest charged by the depart­ment on advances is too high, especiallv as bank interest is 21 per cent. or 2 per cent. and perhaps as low as 1~ per cent. in some cases. !n 1935, or at least prior to 1936, the rate of mterest charged by the State Advances Corporation "as 4 per cent., but to-day it is 4~ per cent. It should be reduced. '\Ve should help the working people in every way to build their homes.

The ruilway system of the State could be conducted with greater advantage to the people than it is to-day. First of all, I ask !10n. mem~ers to examine these figures show­mg the mcome and expenditure by the Railway Department-

1939-40 1940-41

Income. £

7,918,486 8,242,298

Expenditure. £

6,255,889 6,566,750

It will be seen that income exceeded expen­diture last year by £1,675,548. Of course I must be fair and admit that out of th~ sum provision has .to be made for interest, but the fact remams that although income exceeded expenditure by well over £1 000 000 the. department had the effrontery to incr~ase frmghts and fares by 5 per cent. Why should the Government inflict that extra taxation upon the people' No sane, reasonable or fair Government would have done that~ The policy of the Government is wrong in many respects. I frankly admit that the officials of the department are giving excellent service in ~fficiently and properly canying out their dubes, but they are prevented from making more progress in the interests of the State because of the wrong policy adopted by the Govmnment.

'Under present ·war conditions it is perhaps not practicable to construct as many railway coaches as may be needed, but the Govern­ment stick to the old practice of running first­class and second-class carriages despite the fact that first-class carriages are patronised by very few people, and second-class caniages are overcrowded, with standing room onlv in many in stances. The first-class carriage~ ;nay be used by members of Parliament to whom gold passes are issued, and perhaps a few other travellers in and around the suburbs of Brisbane. I am willing to travel in a second-class carriage with workmen any day. I ad,·ocate the adoption of one class for the railway service within the suburbs of Brisbane, as in Sydney and other places. So soon as the Government alter their policv in this direction so soon will the officials o.f the rlepartment be able to make arrangements

for the better use of the space in the first-class caniages that is wasted to-day. It could be done with great advantage. I Teceived a letter from the department stating the reason 'vhy it cannot be done. It says-

'' \Vith reference to your call on the Commissional' on the 6th instant ·when it \Yas suggested that carriages on suburban trains be limited to one class only, I am clesirell to infonn you that the matter is being further investigated, and it is con­sidered O\Ying to the loss of revenue which will be incuned and the fact that there is seldom mol'e than one first-class caniagc on a suburban train (and at times all of this carriage excepting two or three compartments arc labelled and used as second-class accommodation), it is not advis­able to abolish first-class travel in the suburban area.''

That is the only reply the officers of the department can give, that because it is the policy of the Government to retain first-class and second-class carriages on the railways, the suggestion cannot be adopted, but the sooner the department adopts the one-class system for the suburban areas, the better it ·will be for those people who live in indus­trial areas. Many of them now have to stand when travelling, and the suggested altera­tion ,.-ould unquestionably make for their comfort.

The Story Bridge has cost approximately £1,620,000. I must accuse the Government of extravagance, because the construction of this bridge is a striking example of real extravagance. The Government must own the bridge, because already they have placed a tablet on it stating that it \YUS built by a Labour Government. Its construction cannot be ascribed to the Commonwealth Government, as the hon. member for Carpentaria yesterday sought to do about other matters. He cannot put the blame for its erection on the Com­monwealth Government. He and his Govern­ment will have to stand up to this huge expenditnro. I say quite frankly that the bridge has been built 10 years before its time. It 'vas built when the people had the use of two free bridges, and the Government proceeded by means of tolls on it to extract more money from its users for consolidated revenue, a step that merely enhanced Treasury returns for the year.

The Treasurer: You know there is no compulsion in using the bridge.

JUr. DART: I know that the Treasurer knows something about the expenditure anll the revenue of this bridge. In order to remind him that it was a mistake and that the Government should be very careful not to make similar mistakes in the future, T would inform him that last year the interest payments on its construction wen' £59,550, and its working expenses £3,962, or a total of £63,512. To prove that the bridge is not a paying concern, we only have to bear in mind that the revenue received from tolls from its useTs last year amounted to £24,748, whieh leaves a deficiency to be made up from the

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llO Add1·ess in Reply. [ASSEMBLY.] Address in Reply.

State development tax, or some other tax, of £38,7li4. That is a striking illustration of the Government's extravagance, and they shouhl take heed and be careful not to fall into similar pitfalls. Such expenditure only leads to increased taxation.

The revenue of the State in 1939-40 was £20,755,505, whereas in 1940-41 it was £21,.539,744, an increase of £784,239.

There is no doubt >Ye must congratulate the people of Queensland on their ability to p~y increased rail IHty fares and freights and gn·e an extravagant Government so much in the >Yay of revenue in one year, but so long 'S the Government continue to impose heavy taxation they will have unemployed because tl1Ey are taking much of the money 'from the taxp:<yel's that would go into enterprise if left with the taxpayer.

For. the year 19:39-40 the State develop­ment tax produced a revenue of £2· 255 197 wL-ic-h was £255,000 more than the' Go~ern~ ment estimated it would produce, and for the year 1940-41 thcv cxtrnctcd from the people £2,369,88:) Lv 'means of this tax or £114.G86 aLove the "amount extracted in the previous year. Despite this huge revenue we still hase unemployment, and people on rabons. Owing to the activities of th-e Com­m,onwc"alth Government in thi~ State, many M our unemployed have found work and it is largely due to Commonwealth works that cm nnemployment figures has been reduced to ~ )WT cent. It is high time this Govern­nHmt gave consideration to the question of \'asmg the burden on the taxpayers. Hon. munhers may have noticed that the Premier of South Anstrnlia, the Hon. l\ir. Playford, ha;; granted concessions amounting to £80,000, thus enlarging th-e taxation avenues from which the Commonwealth Go1·ernment mav eollE'ct the money that they urgently necrl for war purposes.

It '- oulr1 be an excellent gesture on the vart_ of this Government if they reduced consHlerably the State development tax and so enabled the Commonwealth Government to eollect rr.•ore money for war purposes. I do not know why the State Government should ],c _so grcerly during the war. They should uake every effort to lighten State taxation so that the Commonwealth Government may bP ~ ble to collect more money, so urgently rcqt:1red for war purposes.

I say ach-iseclly to the Government '' Redu_ce the load of State development ta~ and giVe more consideration to the family man.'' I urged the Government to o-ive more consideration to the familv man w"hen the State Development and P~1blic \Yorks Orgr:nisntion Act A1;1enrlmcnt Bill was being COJ;SHlered last sesswn, but my advicp has not so far been followed. I ti·ust that the C:overn_ment will see fit to give special con­sl(:eratJOn to the family man and bring :111011t an all-round reduction in the Stnte development tax.

This Government have accused the Com­mom,·ealth of not doing as muc·h as they shonlrl to have munition and other war work carried out in Queensland. I am very

pleased to be aLle to tell hon. members that the Commonwealth Government have approved of works in the vVynnum electorate to cost over £500,000. There are many who perhaps do not know that the so-called Rock! ea munition works are in my electorate. 'l'he aTea, in fact, is between :Moorooka and Salisbury. I do not know who named these works but to be properly named they should Le called the Salisbury munition factory.

Mr, Ri01•dan: What's in a name?

JUr. nART: There is much in a name. c~ person values his own name always. The 1lllmition factory is in the Wynnnm electorate, on Beaudesert road, bet\veen the 1\Ioorooka Slate School and the Salisbmy railway station. Salisbury is the town, the railway station is much neaTer Rocklea. However, to call it Rocklca munition fa0tory is a mis­nomer. I will say nothing further as to the name than to suggest that peThaps it should Le changed.

I must congratulate the parliamentaTy mE-mbers of the Country and United AustTalia Party on using their influence to have defence money spent in Queensland, not only in Brisbane Lut Ipswich and other ccntrr,~. They have been doing their Lest in that direction and havP made their influence felt. I must, in addition, congratulate the Queensland Government on building road and railway facilities to that factory.

Jlir. Yeates: And the Brisbane City C'cuncil, too.

Mr. DART: Yes. The council and the Govmnment are deserving of emu•mendation for giving the necessary transport fa0ilities.

Mr. Riordan interjected.

Mr. DART: I am not concerned with what the hon. member for Bowen is saying. If he would keep quiet perhaps he would learn something. While he is so noisy it is very difficult for him to comprehend what I fllll saying.

Irrigation 1vorks are not proceeding as fast as they should in a State such as Queens­land. The State rlevelovment tax is eol­kcted for the purpose of developing the State and one method of helping the primary pl'Odncers to develop their areas is to give them nssistance for inigation.

The Secretary for lllines: Do you want to irrignte Clevelnnd?

Mr. DART: The hon. member for Ipswich has not yet discovered the boundaries of my electorate. He knows so little of the geo­p:raphv of Greater Brisbane that he thinks C'levelam1 is in mv area. For the hon. ,r.;cntlemnn 's l•enefit I would inform him that Cleveland is in the electorate of the hon. member for Albert.

Some smnll irrigntion plants are being installed, but, generally, the holders are doing most of the work themselves. On Broad·water C'reek, at 1\It. Gra...-ntt, in the Wynnum electorate, there aTe three large lagoons and I have asked the Government to obtain a report on the possibility of inigation in that area.

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Address in Reply. [28 AuausT.] Address in Reply. lll

For the inforn1ation of those who do not know where it is, the ::\Iount Gravatt m·ea is only about 6 miles out of the city, and is eminently suited to inigation. At a time such as this, when beans and peas are cost­ing from 10d. to ls. a lb. and cabbages are being sold for ls. each, the working man is r!enie<1 the benefit of these wgetahlPg, but with irrigation in and around the city areas vegetables could be produced cheaper and the worl{er wouh1 benefit. 'l'he Government should gine serious consideration to the installation of irrigation plants not onl;v in and around the dty, hut all oYer the country. After all, the country and the city are as one, and shoul(1 work together in the interests of the State. \Ve on this side are in com­plete unity in believing that both country an<l city must co-operate in the interests of Qucenslan r1.

I fayour the erection of a hospital in South Brisbane and in the district of Wyn­num and Manly. I advocated this some time ago, ani! I am still of the opinion that the people of lJOth Sonth BriRbanc anr! \Vynnum should have a separate hospital. We should not spend so much money on one palatial institution. The Government's policy should be one of decentralisation of hospitals to meet the convenience of the people. \Vhy shoul<l the >Yorking man or any of his family haYe to pay fares to yisit the sick in hospital 15 miles aiYay when that institution should m1d could be i1ear his home?

I also reeommcnd the establishment of a home, somewhere in the citl·, for the educa­tion and protection of sub-normal girls of 12 years of age and npwar(1s. I am not so selfish as to say that it should be in Wynnum. The parents of sub-normal girls haYc a yery gntve responsibility thrown upon them. lf such girls couH be placed in a home in which they could be protected and taught to do some useful work, a great service would be rendered to society.

It is my belief that Parliament should meet more often during the :;·ear. Too many Orders in Council arc tabled when we haYe no time to g·ive them serious consideration. If Parliament met more frequentlY these matten could be considered and dealt with thoroughly. \Ye know that it is possible to reatl then\ and enter a protest >Yithin the prescriLecl time, but that is not enough. They should be snbmitted to the whole Par­liament for approval or otherwise. Too much is heing tlonc by Orders in Council.

I am opposed to the erection of big build­ings for the housing of public servants at present. \Ye should take on lease sonw of the empty buildings that are available. 'Phe Government made a serious mistake in spend­ing £11:),000 on housing for the public ser­vice when they could have rented good pro­perties at reasonable rates in and around the city.

The Treasurer: Where are they?

1\'Ir. DART: The Government have already taken Bayard 's huilclings, and there are others. I could find a number that would be satisfactory for the purpose.

Before resuming my seat I should like to thank the Secretarv for Public Instruction for his action in ·having an intermediate school erecter] at \Vvnnnm. I am sure that this school represeJi'ts the fulfilment of a long-felt want, and the electors of \Vynnum arc gmtefnl for it. Other GoYernments representing both sides of opinion considered the matter for many years, but it was not until I eame into this Assembly ancl made repJ·csC'ni·ations 011 behalf of the people that the school >n1S buili. I give credit »·here t'l'C(1it is· (]ne, because I believe in the spirit of e:o·operatiou for the adYancement of this great State of ours.

~Ir. JESSO.N (Kennedy) (11.36 a.m.): I congratulate you, Jlilr. Speaker, on your un:mimous re-election to the position you now occupy. I eongratulate the moYer and c,cconder of i he Ailddress in Reply; their speeches were good for new hon. members, and I am sure they will prove to be yaluable acquisitions to this House. I >vas forcibly struck, howeYer, by the speeches delivered by hon. members opposite-by the party that has heen c-hopping and changing and gerrymand­ering· in an effort to find a suitable name for itself.

J[r. ~Iae~lonald interjected.

Mr. JESSON: I cannot understand the hon. member; perhaps he would write it (lown and send it to me. The party opposite has been tr;l'ing to find a suitable name, and I am willing to haYe a little wager that it will change its name again after the little r1ig the Premier gaYe them-the Cheap and Nasty Party. Hon. membeTs opposite have eriticised the Premier, but yesterday we had the spectacle of a new hon. member on the other side of the House saying that he would not indulge in personalities, and very shortly afterwards in(}nlging in then in a Yeiled >Hly.

Mr. Edwards: You enjoyed them.

lUr. JESSON: Certainly, I enjoyed them. The ·whole of the speeches made by hon. members opposite were occupied by slander­ing the Government-the GoveTnment that have given eYerything to the war effort. Since the session began various questions have been asked by hon. members opposite-their ques­tions were like a blit7-to embarrass the Government and to make out to the people that the Goven1ment have been contributing nothing towards the war effort. They w·ould make people belieye that the GoYernment have been sitting down and doing nothing over the last 10 or 12 months. The questions asked »"Cl'• replied to by the various J\Iinisters con­cerned, who showed that the Government haYe been doing eYcrything possible. The apathy of hon. members opposite was demon­strated by the fact that during the recess they haYe not taken the trouble to find out >vhat the Government ha,-e clone. I contend that the replies given to these questions show that the GoYernment have been four-square behind the war effort.

Before I commence to deal with the activi­ties of the Commonwealth Government--

Mr. Edwards: Get on to a big question.

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112 Address in Reply. [ASSEMBLY.] Address in Reply.

~Ir. JESSON: I am about to speak on a matter of the greatest importance to Aus­tralia, but in the meantinfe "-ill dean up a few little matters that have been exereising my wind. 'l'he first of those is that we have not !wen contributing to the mu effort, but the Commonwealth G-overnment have. Let us examine the position soberly, sanely, and quietly. Some time ago the public of Aus­tndia \vere put to the trouble of answering a long questionnaire for the pm·poses of a national register. What has happened to it? Who knows anything· about it "I The hon. member for \Vynnum this morning said that the reason for the low unemployment figure in Queensland was that the Commonwealth G-onnnuent had spent money in Queenslund. That is an absolute misstatement of fact.

One reason why unemployment has been substantially reduced in QL1eensland is the greater measure of prosperity here. Even if the Commonwealth Government have spent some money in this State for war l-'lHposes we must set off against that the number of tradesmen who have been induced to leave Queensland to \YOrk in the munition works that the Commonwealth Government have set up in the Southern States. l\ly own elec­tur·ate and, indeed, many other electorates ha ,-e been depleted of such tradesmen as boilerma.kers, plumbers, fitters, and turners, who have removed from Queensland to :he other States to take part in this work. The hon. member for ·warwick interjected the other day that there were 200 empty homes in \Yanvick. \\'here have those families gone? They have gone to the South to engage in the trades that have been boosted by the policy of centralisation of industry that has been adopted at the behest of nstccl interests in Sydney, Melbourne, and vVhyalla. Of course, I am not going to be so stupid as to say thn t the Broken Hill Proprietary Limited is not doing a good job in the war t'ffort, bnt I >~·ant to emphasise that it is the men it employs who are doing the good joh. Everybody knows that. The Broken Hill Company has the money to do the work, but it is the workmen who are actually doing the mnk and tlwy are (]oing it faithfully nnd well, yet the opponents of the La hour Party strive to give ever:v credit for it to the company itself.

The compilation of the national register cost this country thousands of pounds, but the Commonwealth Government have not made the slightest use of it. Why did they not use it to draft suitable workers to the munition works and why did they not use it to prevent the enlistment for overseas ser­vices of those men who \vould have lwen twice as Yaluable to this country by remain­ing to ilo skilled \vork in Australia? There \verc highly-skilled men, men who hac1 sel'\'ed their time in the various workshops of the i'ommon\Yealth, hut they are now ovcrseaE:. Thcv should have been seconded to the vari'ous factories operating· in the interests of the w·ar effort, but the Commonwealth GowTnmcnt have wasted thousands of pounds in r1cstroying our war effort inst0ad of build­ing it up. The country has been depleted of many of its highly~skilled men, anc1 the

tragedy of it is that they are being sent out of the country when their services would have been of more value if they had remained here to carry out highly-skilled work. In addition, men are being trained in technical colleges in different parts of the country to enable them to undertake mechanical work, and if the war ends in two years' time they will be available to snap up the jobs that should be available to the men who are now overseas doing their bit. The record of the Commonwealth Government is one of apathy and mismanagement.

Let us consider something else that has cost the taxpayers of Australia a huge sum of money. What has become of the national insurance scheme~ Can any hon. member opposite say that the Commonwealth Govern­ment made a success of that~ The Com­monwealth Government have indeed been very lucky in having a good band of public servants to cany out their job. The Com­momYealth Government are in such a muddle to-day that they are using all kinds of political propagancla and pulling all sorts of strings in an endeavour to evade doing the right thing. \\Thy does not the Governor­General send for JI.Ir. Curtin and ask him to fonn a Government" The Federal Labour Party has the biggest number of n•embors of any single political party in the Federal House. The other members represent a con­glomeration of parties like hon. membeTs on the other side o£ this House.

ilir. Barnes: Why should Curtin be sent for~

~Ir. JESSON: Of course, he should be sent for. He should be sent for by the Governor-General-that is his job-and asked to form a Government. \Vhcn Andrew Fisher established the Commonwealth Bank--

ilir. Barnes: That is my right. (Laughter.)

JUr. JESSON: The hon. member is only a political accident. vVhen Andrew Fisher cstablishecl the C'ommonwenlth Bank he :financed it to the extent of £395,000,000 without imposing any debt or interest charges on the taxpayers of this country. He paid off the Boer War nnd other governmental items, he built the Commonwealth East-West railway. (Opposition laughter.) Hon. mom­hers opposite laugh. but I suppose they kno>v Goldsmith's line in ''The Deserted Village''-

'' And the loud laugh that spoke the varant mind''?

Any fool can langh, but it takes a wise man to talk words of wisdom.

The late Mr. Fisher inaugurated the Commonwealth Bank without any expense to the Commonwealth, or the people of the Commonwealth. Now let us look at the other side, when Mr. Hughes and his crowd attained the Treasury benclies. They hamstringed the Commonwealth B::mk. The loans floated to finance the Great War cost the Commonwealth £~85,000,000. The people of this great Commonwealth have paid over £400,000,000 interest on those loans and still owe the original amount. It is the right of the people

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Address in Reply. [28 AUGUST.] Address in Reply. ll3

to pledge the credit of this nation, and it is a function of the Commonwealth Bank not to take loans from big banking and financial institutions and big insurance companies at interest that will be passed on to my children and other people's children. It is the job of that bank to finance this nation in vYar-time. It is an all-in war, and all-in methods should be adopted to finance it.

I ask hon. members to listen to the state· ment I am about to read. It is not some· thing I compiled myself, but an article that appeared in the Sydney ''Sun'' on 29 December, 1940, under the heading ''Germany's debit of horror.''-

''On Wednesday the world enters upon the fifth decade of a century in which it has been almost continually at war. History dates back only 25 centuries. Of all, the twentieth century has been the most waste· ful of human life, human endeavour, and human savings.

' 'In the 40 vears that have elapsed since 1900- ·

22,000,000 men have been killed on the field of battle;

200,000,000 men, women, and children have died or been killed indirectly as a result of wars;

The world has spent over £200,000,000,000-more wealth than now exists-on wars or preparations for wars;

''The major powers have spent, on navies alone, the follovYing astronomical amounts:-

"United States of America Britain Jnpan France Italv Ger;11any

£ 4,210,000,000 3,990,000,000 2,520,000,000 2,100,000,000 1,680,000,000 2,850,000,000

sufficient to build a merc:mtile fleet of 1,600 'Queen Marys.'

''The expenditure on war in the first four decades of the present century easily exceeds the combined expenditure for all the other centm·ies since man began to kill man.''

Just examine that, Mr. Speaker, anrl listen to this-

'' Last week the Canadian 2\finister for JI.Iunitions estimated that it now cost a country at war £18,750 to kill a man. In the days of Caesar it cost only 5s.

''In the four decades in which the woTld spent over £200,000,000,000 on war it spent less than-

£75,000,000 on prenatal care of mothers; £1,000,000,000 on hospitals; £750,000,000 on education; £5,000,000 on cancer and tuberculosis

research.''

All this money has been spent in waging vvar, for what ail vantage~ This article states further-

'' The money spent on wars during the twentieth century would more than suffice

to provide e1·ery city and town in the world with more endowed hospitals than they would need, give every child free education until he or she were 21, and give every person over 50 adequate pension. There would still be enough left over to provide every town in the world with libraries, clinics, and social senices. ''

That is Germany's debit of horror to the world! Then it concludes-

"l'<ext to the 1914-19 war, the most destructive witnessed this century is the Sino-J apanese war, not even excluding the present European war. \Var in China, vvhich has lasted three aml a-half years and is still in progress, has cost 2,500,000 lives on the field of battle, and ov·er 25,000,000 lives indirectly. It has cost Japan and China over £4,000,000,000 and still shows no signs of ending.' '

What a disgusting state of affairs in a civi­lised community! Then we have Opposition hon. mernbCTs talking the way they do. I heard the hon. member for \Vynnum talking about interest. 'l'here should be no interest in these matters. Why should there be~ (Oppo· sition interruption.)

I think I dealt fully with part of the Commonwealth war effort-that is, the national insurance and the national register. Let us see what they have done to the primary producer. Let us see what they have done to the growers of apples and pears. They stepped in at a moment's notice, without any investigation, and ruined the friendly busi­ness relationship between the grower and retailer or agent in Brisbane, which had existeil for many years. 'l'hat agent in Brisbane is the distributor of fruit through· out the length and breadth of Queensland.

I may raise a laugh from hon. members of the Opposition when I say that I can produce boys and girls in Queensland who have never tasted an apple because they could not afford to buv one. On a recent visit to South Australia, where I went to have a look at the war effort on my own initiative, and at my own expense-with the exception of the rail· way pass-and where I found the workin?" class were 100 per cent. behind the war effort nn d determined to crush Hitlerism and his Fascist mob on the other sicle--

1'\'fr. ]'fuller: Tell us how you would have distributed those 11,000,000 cases of apples.

I\Ir. JESSON: I can tell the hon. member qnitc a lot. I can tell the hon. member how they can do it. I see in the ''Bulletin'' to-day some bi,g fat pigs sitting at a tTough and lwing feil with big luscious Granny Smith apples that had been carted out to the piggery. They iliil not cart them up to the women and children of IV est ern Queensland, some of whom have not tasted an apple. The point is that the apples cvuld have been disti·ibuted in the country. I went down to interview the Apple and Pear Board-I could not see them here, they had gone when I arrived from my electorate-so I went to Melbourne and inter­viewed them. I had a few ideas in my head about the distribution of fruit in North

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114 Address in Reply. [ASSEMBLY.] Address in Reply.

Queensland and I still have those ideas. I have put my ideas into operation against fruit rings created by Greeks and other vendors of fruit. I have clone it myself, and I clo not see why the Commonwealth Govern­ment should not be able to clo the same as a private individual can do. But you find that men in Tasmania >vho have been supplying fruit agents in Brisbane and the Committee of Direction as well wore automatically chopped off without any notice and without any idea of >vhat >vas to come. The relationship between those growers and agents was destroyed by this Apple and Pear Board, who aquired the whole of the apple and pear crop of the Commonwealth >vithout any assured market, and >vithout knowing where they were going to sell anything they had got, and they had pledged the taxpayer of Australia-who could have bought the stuff at cost price-to make up the difference between the price they were going to pay to the grower on his estimated crop and what they would sell it for.

Such people as R. Carter and oth-er big merchants in Brisbane, selling hundreds and thousands of cases of apples and pears from Stanthorpe, Yictoria, Tasmania, South Australia and other fruit-producing areas, have had their businesses wiped out by n stroke of the pen. The men I mention had t0 take wbat tbe Apple aud Pear Board gave them for their businesses. They lost their trade. On my trip I saw appies lying on the ground-round the trees in heaps ]2 inches to 18 inches high-thousands oi' rases -and at the same time people in parto of (,!ueensland crying out for fruit. As a matter of fact, I said that I would guar:mtce to shift 1,000 cases a 1veek if they wonW seii(1 them to me.

J[r. Nicklin: Where would you have got the ships to cany them~

lir. JESSON: That is their job. It is Yery easy for the hon. gentleman to talk ar,out ships.

lUr. Nicklin: That is the problem.

lUr. JESSON: That is not the problem. That is only the easy excuse. Any person can follow the line of least resistance to get out of an argument. The line of least n·sistance in this particular instance has cost the growers thousands of pounds since the ontbreak of war, and moreover bas very much shortened the lives of a number of the young people of this country, the a.pples l cing dumped. ·when I lived at Maronbra Br~y, Sydney, I saw tlwnsands of apples washed up on the beach after they had been <lumpecl in the sea .fTom the market. 'rheso apples were (lumped into the sea in order that the price wonld not be affected. Yet we hear people speaking of our civilisation. I am tr lling the plain truth.

'l'his thing ran be handled properly. I blame the Committee of Direction of Fruit Marketing in this city for their npnth;' in this matter. Ten times the quantity of apples

and pem·s could be sold in Qacenslan•l if the fac·ilities were given to do it.

~Ir. Jlluller: At a price-2s. a case?

JIIr •• lESSON: I am not talking of butter llU\1', Butter has a protection from the Com­moHwralth.

JIIr. Nicklin: If the facilities of si1ipping "c·re avnilablC':

llir. JESSON: Nothing of the kind. The Lo;,rcl (litl not even giYe the trade an oppor­ttmity. They did not go into the matter at all. ,.\ large sum of money has been lost. J thought the hon. gentleman was the arh-o­l'ate of the fmitgrow·er. I thought he was '' memlJer of the Country Party. The Leader of the Opposition is on the Committee oi' Direction of l<'rnit Marketing.

Jir. ::\'icklin: Not now.

1\Ir. JESSON: He must have got off it. I!c >Yoke up. The point is that, whether the lwn. gentlemnn is or is not on the committee, he is only i11ter,iecting to make a noise Luause he kno>YS that what I am saying is t!1e truth. It would haYe paid the Common­weRlth Goyenunent to c·onstruct a nmnber ol trains with the money that has been lost and ll"l' them to transport the fruit C\orth.

Jir. N'icklin: A train cannot be built in fiYo minutes.

)[r. JESSON: This thing has been going on for nearly two years. It has been going on sinC"e the war began. Apples and pears nrr deck car;o on boats and several ships h" \'C lJeen constructed here since t h: "ar l.cg·:m. ft was only recently, when a Labour C:r,,·ernment came into offic8 in X ew South \\'ales, that the opening of the Cockatoo Doekyard was considered. The Tory Govem­n,oent in that State kept these dockyards c·losed for obvious reasons; thev were a Government concern and the Government hept them elosed in the interests of private CJI tcrprise.

I can tell hon. members where these apples m>rl pears can he marketed. They could be rw,rkeic•l in the towns in the west of the tit ate. I tolrl om own Secretary for Agri­cnHme a]](l Stock that if he liked to make U]' a full trainload of apples to take to conntry districts I would guarantee to sell eYcry one of them. PPople working in the wntern nrcas would pay 6s. or 7s. a case for a regular supply of a case of apples a week.

In Home Hill and Ayr they are 4s. a dozen. The reason whv I started business as a distributor of fruit 'was that I went with nry wife anr1 the kidclies one Saturday night for a 1valk, and I heard a little girl ask her motl>cr to hnv her an apple. She had seen some jnicy red apples stacked in tiers in a ,]lop window·. Her mother said, ''T can't, rlrnr: i!Jry arc t·oo dear.'' The ehi!tl turnc(l ronnel anA said, '' J\{other, I ha Ye newr tasted nn apple." T said to my wife, "That is pretty tough.'' I >Ycnt in and honght n dm:rn, gave the mother the bai!, and said to her, ''Take these home and gh·e your kidclies a feed of apples.'' That incident

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Address in Reply. [28 AUGUST.] Address in Reply. ll5

made me think that fruit could be distributed at a price within the working man's reach.

Jlr. Macdonald: When was that?

lUr. JESSON: In 1927. lUr. }Iacdonald: At a time when a Labour

Government were in office.

Mr. JESSON: I advise the hon. member not to open his mouth too wide or he will put his foot in it. The point is that it can be done. There is no organisation on the Committee of :B'ruit Marketing. They are not doing all that they should. They are depending upon station-masters to act as fruit-vendors. Station-masters have their ,jobs to do. They cannot be bothered by people who might come onto the station ask­ing the price of this and that. That scheme \vas inaugurated by the Queensland Govem­ment in an endeavour to help the Stanthorpc fruitgrowers but they had nothing to do \vith the other systems.

1\'Ir. :Jlacdonald: You should not condemn the State Govemment of Queensland like that.

Mr. JESSON: Irrespective of what Government are in power, if I think ·anything is wrong I will say so, and so will anybody else if he has the courage.

In the report of the Agent-General, Mr. Pike, we find a letter in which mention is made of a letter from the Lord Mayor of Manchester expressing thanks for the various comforts, clothing, and other things that ha,·e been sent over to England. One para­graph of that letter is worthy of mention here. It reads-

'' During these attacks many citi7.ens were killed or maimed, and many of the noblest churches and buildings, ensluining some of the finest trac1itions of our city ancl of our corporate life, were consumed by firP ,; some hospitals were destroyed and a great number of homes demolished or damaged.''

On. reading '' Pix,'' the weekly magazine, I nohcecl photographs of a nurse-E•stricl Dane -leading a little girl along a bridge whilst another is exercising the leg of another little girl by pulling on it to straighten it. In that magnzinc \Ye find such notes as these-

'' Bomb-shocked babies are being nursed !Jflck to health, strength, and steady nerves in a _J~ondon clinic run by a Danish woman, Estnc1 Dane. Mental scars can be erased only when physical health is good,. so babies go th:·ough a scientifically planned course. Exernse helps to correct bow legs. ''

The letter from which I have quoted and these articles in '' Pix'' are, I think, the right form of appeal to the young people of this conntry to offer for war service, but although the Commonwealth authorities m·e crying out about the lag in recruiting they are not eo-operating \\"ith the people. I know of one such ease, that of a young man for whom I am trying to do something now. For one year and 61 days he was in the A.I.F., moved from the various camps in Queensland to Bathurst, in New South Wales,

and four days before he was to be embarked for active service they found out that he had hmmorrhoids.

This young fellow was finally discharged as medically unfit through no fault of his own. At the time he enlisted, he was earning up to £7 and £8 a week in the sugar industry, and other industries he followed. He gave his services to the country for 5s. a day. He was passed out with nothing to do. Why could he not be given a job at some munition factoq~ He was simply turned loose on the community. Is that the right sort of thing to do to stimulate recruiting? If he said anything to anybody in the presence of an intelligence officer or some so-called patriot, he would be grabbed and put into camp, because it would be said that he was indulging in sub­versive chatter or hindering the war effort. 'This young man has been thrown out with­out money or assistance after giving over a year of his life in the service of his country. He should have never been allowed to go into camp; he should have been Put in a hospital and cured. If then he was not fit for duty overseas, he should have been giYen some other job. That sort of thing, I repeat, is of little help to the recruiting efforts being ma.de throughout the country.

When a young man offers his services the Commonwealth officer to whom he reports should be able to say whether it is advisable for him to go into the A.I.F., the Navy, or any other branch of the fighting services. As a matter of fact, a race seems to be going on as to which section will get the most recruits. There is jealousy between them.

The A.I.F. seems to be jealous of the R.A.A.F. No encouragement is given to enlist. I know of men who have tried to enlist but cannot get in; I know of others \\'hO have sought a YOluntary job but Were t?ld they were not required. The time is npe for the Commonwealth Government to make a complete overhaul of the recmiting business. 'l'hey should oYerhaul some of those doing the recruiting. If that were done, there would be a greater response to the appeal for recruits.

I should like now to mention another matter from the floor of this House, one that has a direct appeal to my electoTate. There are young men of Italian descent­born in this country of Italian parents-who shonlcl make a greater effort than they are mnking by enlisting. I say that candidly and definitely without any fear that I am saying anything but the right thing. I am informed that the reason they give for not enlisting is that the:v might be insulted in the camps if they did. I think there are many such ;·o1mg men who owe much to this counb-y \Vho should be willing to clo something for it. .Tust fancy their excuse-that they might be insulted! Why, a young man who cannot stand up to a bit of ridicule or a little bickering is not going to be much good in future life. I really (1o think that many of these young fellows should offe1· their services to the country's war effort.

I wish now to reply to the vile attack made by the hon. member for Maree-Lucky

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116 AddTess in Reply. [ASSEMBLY.] Address in Reply.

Lou-on one of the grandest unions in this country, the Australian ·workers' Union. He said that the Australian Workers' Union collected 25s.--

l1Ir. Clayton: For three months.

l\Ir. JESSON: He said nothing of the sort. 'l'he hon. member YYas not in the Chamber. He said that the Australian Workers' Union collected 25s. from each of its members for nothing. He said that the accumulated funds should be returned to the members of the Australian vVorkers' Union.

I,et us examine the position closely. My mind goes back many years to the early days of industrial struggles, when the solidarity of the Australian W m·kers' Union and its oilicials was responsible for building up the improved conditions that the workers enjoy in Queensland to-day. ·what were the indus­trial conditions in the sugar industry many years ago, when men had to work tediously for long hams? What was the position during the change-over from lmnalm labour to the YYhitc canecutter ~ The bosses on the planta­tions expected the Yvhite men to work the same hours and receive the same pay as those allowed to the kanaka. I can recall the strenu­ous fight by the Australian \Yorkers' Union, which has resulted in the good conditions in the sugar industry to-day. The Australian ·workers' Union was responsible for building up the good conditions, not only for the workers in the industry, but for the growers and the millers, too.

The same strenuous fight was waged on hehalf of the workers in the pastoral industry. By their strenuous efforts in the Industrial Court and through their representatives in Parliament, the Austmlian Workers' Union has been able to improve the conditions of the workers in the western parts of the State. Look at the improvement that has taken place in workers' accommodation as a Tcsult of the efforts of the Australian vVorkers' Union. Then we have the hon. member for Maree condemning this wonder­ful union, that has clone so much for its members and in helping to develop the country.

It is the solidarity of the Australian Workers' 1Tnion and the trade-union movement and the Australian Labour Party that hon. members opposite do not like. That is the trouble with all of them. If our party was burst and torn and tattered like the part:v on the other side of the Chamber, and if we hacl to change the name of our party ever:v three or four months, then, like them, we could achieve nothing. Theirs is the Country National Part;>'-the Cheap-and-Nasty Party. How cheap and nast;>' they have been, especi­ally during the past three days! I could call thC'm tlw Communist-ancl-Nazi Party-the Conntn-:l'\ ational Prnt:--. Tu thP last elcetions thev alloYvecl a C'ommunist cnnclidate to oppose the. Labonr ennclidate in the Bowen elector­ate, and in the Charters Towers elPctorate thPv allo1wd a Communist, or a Protestant J,ahour or :1 sectarian cam1idate, to onpose the r~a bour mnn. If bv some ill-fated chance the hon. member for 'Bowen, Mr. Riordan,

Ol' the hon. member for Charters Towers, .lllr. Jones, had been killed before polling day, we should have had the spectacle of seeing a Communist member of Parliament sitting on the other side of the Chamber amongst hou. members opposite. 'l'hey would have been responsible for allowing a Communist reprc­seutati,·e to enter this l'arliament. If we liked 1ve could s1vitch from the appellation of Cheap-and-Xasty Party to Communist-and~ Kazi Party.

"1Ir. Muller interjected.

]}fr. JESSON: The hon. member should remain quiet. I should not talk too much it 1 we1·e he. \V e do not want to indulge in auy personalities. vVo are dealing yvit h this 'ulJject in a broad way. (Laughter.)

Before I resume my seat, I should like to congratulate the hon. member-the Indepen­dent member-for Hamilton, on his very refreshing maiden speech. I am sure that a great deal of what he said will fall on fertile ground, especially his remarks concerning secondary industries in Queensland. Until recent years Queensland was always regarded as a primary-producing State. It was almost wholly and solely a primary-producing State. 'l'he hon. member for Hamilton, as well as speakers on this side of the House, has pointed out the reason why a great number of secon­dary industries have not been established in this State-that wages and conditions of employment have stopped them. IV e hnve had instances of the effect of sweated rates and conditions in the clothing trade in ~I elbourne. There women worked sewing machines at their back doors making clothing and sewing on buttons at sweated rates, ancl under appalling conditions. Those conditions have not been allowed to prevail here, and I should prefer to have no secondary industries l1erc than that they should be eotablished under conditions that permit the exploitation of the defenceless mothers of our future race. War has given an impetus to the establish­ment of secondary industries here, and I feel sure that when the conflict is over that these industries will be so firmly established that ~~-e shall be able to manufacture for the needs of our people. If we can manufacture articles for the prosecution of war then ~~-e can surely manufacture necessities for the people in peace.

(Time expired.)

lUr. MOORHOUSE (Windsor) (12.15 p.m.) : 1 offer to you, Mr. Speaker, my con­gratulations on your re-election to the honour­able position which you so ably fill in this Assembly. I feel sure that you will retain the regard of this Assembly and the public, which !"OU not only holcl to-day but have held since yon entered public life.

I rise as a newcomer to parliamentar:v nn,ce<lurc in this House, but I feel sure that I shn 11 receiYe the toleration that is usually extended to a newcomer. If, Mr. Speaker, I make mistakes, I am sure you will attribute it to my lack of familiarity with parlia­mentary procedure and not to any lack of respect to you and to this House.

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Address in Reply. [28 AUGUST.] Address in Reply. ll7

On reauing the Speech <lelivered to this House by His Excellency I was disappointed to :find that there was no mention of any amendment to an Act which was place<1 on the statute-book during the l::lst session of this House. I refer to the Act that gave to four men the power to control this State in any way they thought :fit.

JUr. SPEAKER: Order! I remind the hon. member that the Public Safety Act of 1940 to which he is referring was the subject of an amendment, the debate on which was completed on Tuesday last. The mattcl', tLcn'­fore, has been dealt with :finally.

lUr. MOORHOUSE: Anything that tends to take away the freedom that is om heri­tage should be carefully examined, and I am doubtful as to the effect of that legislation. I am not so doubtful of the present :2\Eni,ters as I am of a Parliament controlled-shall 1ve say-by a Premier similar to the hon. member for Oxley. One remark that struck me very forcibly during this debate was the remark of that hon. member that we shoul<l take the steel used to construct the Story Bridge and use it for war pmposes. That, in itself, is evidence of the school of thought that prefers to destroy rather than construct.

Mr. NiiUlUO: Mr. Speaker, I rise to a point of order. What I did say was that the time might come when we should have to take the steel used in the Story Bridge. I did not say that we should take the steel.

Mr. SPEAKER: Order! Mr. Moorhouse!

lUr. MOORHOUSE: I feel that if the hon. member for Oxley had been sincere he would have suggested that the Government take over the necessary means of production of all minerals from their source to our men's hands overseas to make sure that the :finished article was not exploited by the owners of the means of production for their private gain. I feel sure that the working section of the Australian people are capable of giving to our boys overseas all that they require to defeat the Fascism for which I feel this Act will pave the way.

We have to remember that it •vas the pro­fessiona 1 politir,al go-getter who sold the people of Frnnrc; it was the political go­gdters who sold the German people, and the same thing happene<l in Italy. This is what I fear here, and that is my reason for speak­ing in this strain.

\Vhen the hon. member for Oxley spoke of an all-in war effort I could not reconcile his remarks with the efforts of the lJnrty in Fer1eral politics that is of the same political colour as the hon. member. Hns there ever in the history of British politics been surh a tragic succession of erTors ani! blunders~ They are so obvions that I feel I should be wasting the time of the House if I enumeraterl them. Let ns be honest and say that this is a war to preserve the free­dom of th0 people of Australia and not to put them in gaol for their opinions; let us prevent exploitation by the makers of muni­tions, anc1 1 am con:fident the people of Aus­tralia would respond in the right spirit to

the rall that should be the watchword of the Australian people. Give them the right to work, not the pri\-ilcge; give them likewise the right to culture, and give them the right to rest. Let them feel assured that after this a •vful sla nghter is over our boys will come back to those rights, and there 1vill be no reason to hold recruiting campaigns and tra<le on the sentiments of the people.

I shonld like to conclude my remarks on that subject by saying to Tory members of this House that in 1914-18 some of our boys !aiel clo•vn their lives for freedom :nll\ to make this land ":fit for heroes to live in." Let us not forget it was a case of ''The last man and the last shilling then,'' but when the representative of that school of thought to which the hon. member for Oxlcy belongs cam'e to Australia he urged the lo•wring of ouT people's standard of existence, an<l that, after the Australian people had given their men to be slaughtered on the altar that pro­vide<l these same jJeople with their wealth and profit--

Government Ill embers : Shame!

Mr. MOORHOUSE: I refer to the muni­tions profiteers. That is my reason for fear­ing this legislation that is on the statute­book to-clay.

I should like now to refer to the measmc on education that is to be brought <lown. I hope the J\TinisteT responsible for the Ilill will sec his way clear to make adequate pTo­vision for the primary section of the educa­tional scheme. By that I mean that the accessories required by the child starting se hool should be provided by the State so each c.hild would be using the same class of material, anu none woulcl feel that he or she •vas dependent on the ability of his or her parents to provide the material that was necessary. It would also enable the children of poor" parents to meet the children "·hose parents were better off on an equal footing.

I am please<l to note the reduction in the unemployment figures, but I feel that if it were not for this horrible war those :figures would be on the same level as they were in 1937-38. I should also feel very much rPliewd if I could feel sure that our men who have left the industrial field could be <·ertain \Yhen they returned of a position in the industrial field compatible with decency, anc1 not have to chip footpaths for a few meals a week. I fear that this spectre of unemployment is hanging just as gloomily as cyer over the people's heads, and as soon as this war is ended we shall have to face a depression much worse than the last one.

I hope that the platform to which the Premier snbscTibes is the remedy, hut for IIeawn 's sake, let it be put into operation and not remain a cloud on the horizon. If the Premier has doubts about the platform's suiting the genius of the Australian people he should scrap it and tell the people that their only hope of staving off depression is to have wars and not peace. But I am yet to be convinced that this is the hon. gentle­man's oninion or that it is his belief. I am not in a position to question the figures of

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118 Address in Reply. [ASSEJYIBLY.] Address in Reply.

those who line up for relief at polite stations, but I shoultl feel much more satisficll if the number \Yas reduced.

A~ a ~oldier of the last war and taking irtto consideration the savagery of the present ccnfiict, I should like to see the Minister responsible for air-raids precautions give CollSideration to the provision of deep air­rai<l shelters and preparation for their control on the lines of the scheme that has proved successful in London after the British GoYermnent failed to control them. \Ve must realise the possibilities of an incendiary attack on Brisbane in particular, but I haYe yet to learn that any sand has been placell in the suburban areas in readiness for this horrid form of assault, although I am sure that the Minister will have taken some pre­cautions in the matter. I suggest that a good site for a deep suburban shelter woulu be the locality where the far-seeing Federal GGYCrnmcnt-of which our Tory members m·e so proud-are building a military hospital. 'l'he hill at the back of this institution woulu be a suitable spot to which patients could be taken an(,[ the residents of the area could me it ;yith safety and dispatch. I should also like to know how visible our shining iron l'Oofs ··,onld be to an enemy attacking· us frc.m the air, and if the ::\Iinister intends !taYing them camouflaged in some way. It \\ould likewise be inteTesting to know what efforts the Federal authoTities have made to defend the people of Queensland with anti­aircraft gui1s. When I heal' hon. mer<.·b~rs refer to the 100-per-cent. war effort I could almost smile, if it were not for the traged.; of Federal ineptitude.

am very pleased that the \Yorkers' Compensation Act is to be amended and I hope its scope will be extended to cover the section of the community \Yho wffer from phthisis, and that the payments for this dreadful complaint will be such that the suf­ferers will have some sense of economie secmit:v. Hospital staffs should also be pro­tecter1 11;· bringing within the ambit of the Aet the contagious diseases they are liable to co11tract.

In the Bill for Industrial Affairs aJHl Labour Exchanges I hope we shall be ahle t0 Tead the death knell of that abominable means test, that is so hTutal to sections of tl1e community.

I WRQ hoping to see legislation brought dom1 to proYide the expectant mothrr with the cronomic security that she has not yet experiencer1. -While on this subject I should like to remark to hon. members who talk so ,g·lihh- of populating Australia from within that hcTe is the best answer to all who <leplorc the slow inc-Tease in onr population. Let parents have the knowledge that they an h·inging children into this world to live

life that is going to be above the standard of the dole anti we shall have all the people we reqnire. To ask parents to bring children into the world when they are not snre they will be ahle to earn money enough to feed them is to attempt to lo,Yer the standard of our people. By all means let ns populate our country with our own stock, but

lot us be sure that the rising generation are to enjoy a better economic standard than we ha1·e to-day. In my opinion, that is the best answer to the large-family cry. Let the ll'Other feel, too, that she is bringing a child into the world for peace, not to be slaughtered en the battlefields.

One fmther reform of the need for which I shoulc1 like the Government to take notice is an alteration in the Constitution to pro­Yide that the right of control of our public men and representatives shall be vested in the people who elect them. This can be done by means of the recall. I feel sure that if we conl<l ccnwinee the world to-day of the pcnver that the people have in their hands we should not have war after war. If public men were clireetly responsible to the people­from day to day, if need be-the people having the right to say "yes" or "no" to any TefoTm that did not suit them, they 1voulll be put in their proper place. Unuer that system, if anotheT gentleman fTom acToss the water endeavoured to tell Austra­lians how they were to live, and suggest that theiT sianrlaTlls be reduced, no Government ;vcnld dare listm to him. The people, not a group of money-bags who neither toil nor spin, would decide what they shvuld have. I 1vas elected to this Assembly to advocate the placing of this law on the statute-book, and both in and out of season my voice will be raisell in an endeavour to peTsuade the Gm·ernment to take action before it is too late. The surest way to stop the develop­ment of Fascism is to vest control of public men in the people, just as the boss has control over his employees.

In conclusion, I uesiTe to make it known that I shall co-operate in all measures that tenc1 to improve the com1itions of the workers and measures to defeat the growth of Fascism in Queensland.

Mr. JUARRIOTT (Bulimba) (12.32 p.m.): At the outset, I desire to extend to you, MT. Speaker, my congTatulations upon your re­election to the high and honourable office of Speaker of this House. Possibly you are b6coming tircrl of n reiteration of these con­gvatulations, but I add mine to those of other hon. "members, eYen at the risk of boring you.

I clesirc also to congratulate the mover and seconder of the motion that we are now c1iscussing. Both have made fine contribu­tions to the debate.

Some passages of His Excellency's speech are, to me, pregnant with meaning, and I am sure they must be to any hon. member \Tho has taken the time to dissect that speech. One matter to which I should like to draw the attention of the House, and which I hope to discuss when we are considering the Esti­mates, is the improvement of the health conditions of the people of Queensland.

I haw taken stock of the situation over a number of years. Three or four years ago I visitcc1 a public hospital to see an old friend of mine 11ho hacl been f6llowing the calling of a fireman. I located him in a basement balcony away from the fresh air.

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Address in Reply. [28 AUGUST.) Acld1·ess in Reply. 119

The hospital >YUS built on a hillsirle and the inside wards were known as basement wards. The matron of this hospitrll, having shown me where my friend »·as, remarked, ''You know, we don't want his sort here.'' That prompter! nl'e to haYe the hospital records turned up, to find the complaint with >l"hich my friend was suffering. I found that he >Yas logged as a tubercular patient. ·when the matron made this l'emark to me I got husy-I was a trade union oftlcia! at the time-to see that my friend would be plaeerl whPrc he would be looked arter. The only hospital for chronic diseases was the Diaman­tina Home.

During the last two veal's l haw been particularly struck with t'iw fact that in our own Brisbane General Hospital, mHl other hospitals as well, we find ont on the l1alconies of almost evrrv >Yard, both male and female, a large number of patients scgregaterl from· the others. These l;atients an~ kept on the balconies and separate appliances are pro­vided for the storag-e and cleansing of their eating- utensils. 'l'his indicates that the diseases from which they am suffering are infedions, and precautions must be taken. The sorry part of the pictnrc is that we have no institution, other than the vV cstwoorl Sanatorium and our ordinary public hos­pitals, where patients affected with tuber­culosis can he treated. Some of the public hospitals clo not desire to have tubercular patients amongst_ their other patients.

I find, upon reference to statistics, that for the year 1939 the number of tuberculosis cases treatcc1 in the public hospitals of Queensland-:md this number includies all forms of tuberculosis-was 80R. The figures for 19+0 show an increase, the number treated being 8:38. Of comse, the respiratory class pTedominates. The number of deaths from respiratory tuberculosis in HJ39 was 290, and those in 1940, from all kinds of tuberculosis, were 270. The figures have not heen taken ont for the various forms of tuberculosis for 1940.

The latest figuTes relating to sufferers from· respiratory tuberculosis have not been printed and so I cannot quote them. Howe;-er, when the Estimates are being con· sidered I hope that the responsible Minister will see if something cannot be done in the way of providing- special hospital accom· modation for tuberculosis sufferers. Any hon. member who visits the Brisbane General Hospital can see for himself that what I say is correct.

There is considerable controversy amongst sections of the community as to how tuber­culosis is transmitted, and to what extent it is transmitted through the milk supply. The information I have been able to get does not indicate that there is heavv infection of the human being from bo~ine sources, although there is some. It is interesting to note that at various times some authorities have advocated the adoption of compulsory herd-testing, and I was interested to note that one of the cattle-breeding societies which held its annual meeting during Exhibition week had this subject listed on its agenda

for discussion in the form of a motion sub­mitted Ly the Hen~rrn<l Father Bates, of the Anglican C'hun·h. He tric>il to prevail on that soeiety, of 1rhich he is a member, to adopt the system of compulsory herd -testing with the object of eliminating animals suffer· ing from diseases that could be communicated to the human being through either the milk supply' or the meat supply. Apparently, the members of that socictv realised tlrat one of the main c1il1i<·ulties >YO~lld be to pro\·ide com~ pensation for the cattle owner whose cattle did not come up to the test all(] thus had to be destroYccl. Possibly that is the reason >vln· the society rc;iected the proposal. uthel'­wise they possibly >Yonlrl haYe nfade a recom· meudation to the Gm·ernmcnt that eompul· sory herd-testing be adopted. Then the responsible Government departnfent would haYe been facc<l >Yith the problem of finding the whercwith,,J to compensate the cattle owners who .,~e1·e oblig-ecl to dpstroy their infected animals. I understand thnt dming the past two or three years some prominent members of the dahy industry Yoluntarily destroyed quite a large number of their cows that were found to be suffering from diseasBs that eould be transmitted to human beings. I hope that consideration will be g-iwn to this sub;ieet »·hen the Estimates for the Department of Ag-riculture and Stock come up for consideration.

I know that the Minister in charge of that department is well versed in all phase•l of this subject. I know, too, that he has giyen great consideration to it. Possibly, even during this st1·enuous time he may find time to tell us something more than he has already said about the various rliseases affecting the herds supplying milk to, not only Greater Brisbane, but other areas in Queensland. I have in mind also some of the districts that have come under departmental notice during the last few years. On that particular point I, together with other hon. rnembf'rs, have in the past been asked to give consideration to the subject of providing a more efficient milk supply to the Greater Brisbane area. This is largely the responsibility of the Brisbane City Council, which has the right, within its own boundaries, to deal with certain aspects of its milk supply, particu · larly with dairies and the situation of those dairies. "\Ve know, with some degree of satisfaction, that in this House are men who have graduated from service in the Brisbane City Council, and they should know something about this subject. They may also kllOI\' of the representations made so often to the Brisbane City Council by people in the resi­dential areas of Brisbane to have dairies abol­ished that were established there when thcv were dense bush or, at least, sparsely settled. In fact, many sueh dairies were estn blishecl on open grazing paddocks. 'J'hese still provicl<:' a large prop01tion of the milk supply for Brisbane. but in the com·pe of time ]1aye been surround~<! by high~class residences. I ask tlw House to visualise just what that means. There is a large milking yard, and adjacent yards >Yhere the cows wait at milking time. The cows are not housed or barnfed as in colder countries, and ha,-e to remain in tlw

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120 Address in Reply. [ASSEMBLY.] Address in Reply.

open during milking periods. The dairies are not properly drained, with the result that the excreta remain on the ground in all weathers-both heat and rain-until t,hey dry or are washed away by the rain. That nuisance itself is annoying to residents of the locality, and I, as well as others in such a locality, contend that it constitutes a menace to health.

Those conditions exist despite the utmost endeavours of the owners to comply with the health regulations by having the excreta cleaned up daily. Health is menaced, not only by the stench, but also because the dry excreta arc blown about by the vvind. It happens under those conditions that excreta do get into the milk. 'rhat must be obvious to hon. members, particularly those who, like myself, have done a little work in the cow­yard and know exactly what conditions obtain therr. Moreover, it must be obvious to hon. members that the fact that the breeding of a milking herd is allowed in these areas must have a bad effect on people of all ages in the localit:-. The fact that children see just how the natural increase of the herd takes plnce is not flltogether good for them.

Mr. Barnes : Ridiculous.

lUr. ::IIARRIOTT: My friend will have an opportunity later of saying why my state­ment is ridiculous. I do not think there is any need to elaborate on what takes place when the cow and her husband are missing. Despite vvhat the hon. member says I maintain that it is undesirable to herd bulls f!nd cows together in close residential areas. Parents have enough difficult questions to answer with­out l1aving to answer questions prompted by what takes place in a dairy herd.

The Brisbane C'ity Council has povver to make ordinances to deal with these dairies in the suburban areas, and has availed itself of that power. Their remov-al has been the subject of agitation ov-er a period of years, but for reasons unknown-certainly they aro unknown to me, anc1 I have made various inquiries to ascertain the reasons-those ordin­ances have not been proceeded with. I under­stand they have been submitted to the Depart­ment of Health and Home AffaiTs, and alt8l-a­tions were suggested, but the council did not make those alterations, with the result that these dairies remflin in closelv-settled !orali­ties. The hon. member \\:ho interjected ev-idently does not know much a bout them. If the hon. member wishes it we will take him for a drive and show him places where the dairy herd has to be travelled through streets through which heavy traffic is passing when the~' are being taken to the resting paddocks, which may be a quarter of a mile away from the dairy, and through which an open filthy ih·ain runs.

}Ir. Clayton: What is the dairy inspector doing~

~lr. MARRIOTT: When the dairy inspector comes round he sees the cattle have a water supply adjacent to the milking yard, hut cattle have not yet been trained to drink water only during the period they are in the

milking yard before they are taken back to the resting paddock through which this storm­water drain, carrying household drainage, runs.

Mr. Clayton: That is his job.

Jir. lUARRIOTT: It may be his job. 1 am lodging my objection to the fact that those dairy herds are allowed in the closely­settled areas of Brisbane. On his visits the dairy inspector would probably find the cattle in the milking yards waiting to be milked where an ordinary water-trough was provided. When the Estimates for the Department of Health and Home Affairs come up for con­sidemtion then we shall have an opportunity to deal vYith the duties of health inspectors.

I eertainl~- hope that other hon. members \vill also raise this phase of the health of the community when the appropriate Esti­mates are under consideration.

Comment has been made to the effect that hon. members on this side are not taking an active part in the recruiting effort. Several of my colleagues \Yho hav-e spoken, particu­larly the hon. member for Konnedy, have refened to spe~ific cases of bad trPatm·ent of soldiers by the Commonwealth Govern­ment. In my electorate I have a sergeant who served o\-erseas until May this year and was returnec1 from the battle-field in Egypt to Australia as unfit for further service. PriOT to enlistment that soldier passed all the medical tests, but he is now discharged as medicallv unfit and told, as haYe those who took ·action on his behalf, that his incapacity is not due to war disability, and consequently no pension can be paid to him, although he has collapsed on ewry .i ob he has a ttemptcd since. \Vhen men hear of such things they f!Sk themselves whv should they leave their dependants and enlist.

N ot\vithstanr1ing all that, ho\1·ever, hon. members on this side, includin.g myself, do their bit in endeavouring to aid recruiting. Certainly, I could make a big man of myself and v-olunteer in the knowledge that I should probably be rejected because of my age or for medical reasons, but what a\ ail would that be' I hesitate to ask men to do what I am unable to do myself. If I were able I should go forward, as I realise that all we hold dear as a democracy is at stake. Hon. membeTs of this side and their supporters are just as keen to combat the foe as hon. members on the Opposition benches and their supporters. I give every credit to the men and women of the various branches of the forces who are doing all they can to prevent the destruction of demoCTacv, and I feel that they will succeed.

Mr. WALKER (Cooroora) (2.15 p.m.): Although this is only one of the many times when I have spoken on the Address in Reply, it is an important occasion in that it is an opportunity for many younger hon. members to express their views about the affairs of the State. Having listened to many of these younger men, I am convinced that they are men of special ability, that they have some strong qualification for membership of this Assembly. The other day we passed a vote

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Address in Reply. [28 AUGUST.] Address in Reply. 121

of condolence with the relatives of seven or eight old members of this Assembly. I took the trouble of looking up the history of each of those men, and I found that eYery one of them had some special qualification, a thorough grasp of some particular industry or district, that qualified him for entry to Parliament.

This session we now haYc some young new members, and we are always pleaserl to see them. Needless to say, "·c arc sony to see tltc· old men go out, no matter ·what their political views may be, but that is one of the fortunes of the political war. By having ynunger members coming forward to take part in our llebatcs, we usnally learn some· thing, and these young men this year seem to ,lJe able to contribute somethin~S, no matter how small, for the betterment of our delibera­tions.

Although the Governor's Speech was comprehensive, I should have liked to see more in the proposed programme of work to help build up the State. Not much is sug­gested along those lines, although it may yet come. I have seen it come many a time without being in the programme of work ont­linell by the Go.-ernor. Of course, that is the policy and privilege of the Government. I realise that if something objectionable was contained in that programme of work, it is obvious that hon. members who objected to it IYOuld devote about 90 pe1· ecnt. of their speeches on the Address in R,eply and Fina.ncial Statement-when an opportunity occurs to speak on all matters that concern the State-to those subjects a.lone.

\!Ye are extremely pleasell that the Gov­ernor's term has been extended. He has been with us for a-pproximately nine years now, and during that time has shown himself to be a man IYith an active mind. He has not been a ''jib'' in any way. Even during times of recess, when he could have taken a peaceful holiday, he has visited the North ana the hinterland of the State. He has made himself acquainted with the whole of the State's production, and we cannot help llrawing the conclusion tha.t he is a, fairly good judge of all the economic factors in production in Australia.

In alldition, we all know that he is a good mixer. The country people are always pleased to see him. I have often thought that if the Duke of Gloucester hacl had even only a small part of that spark possessed by the Governor he would have left us a moTe popular man. Quite recently, when Sir Leslie \Vilson opened the show at Imbil, he mixed freely IYith the people ana seemed to get on remarkably well with them. He made it a day out, and in addition he travelled all clay and all night to open that show.

I repeat that I am glad that his term has been extended for another 12 months. In fact, I llo not think any Queenslanller could have clone more than he has so far as mixing with the people and carrying out his varied duties are conc,erned. I believe that it is more satisfactory to ha.-o an Imperial man as Governor than a local man. Such a, man is the King's representath·e, he knmys

exactly what the wishes of the King and the Old Country are, and in Sir Leslie Wilson we have hacl one who has given all classeB tlw greatest possible satisfaction.

In his Opening Speech, the Governor lTfenell to the fact that Parliament had never been opened previously under such circumstances as existea to-llay. I suppose that is true. Never before in the history of Uw British Empire-and this applies particu­larly to Australia because Anstralio, as we know it dill not exist at the time of some of the bygone lva,rs-were \YC in such dire straits. \Ye must feel that we are in n ter­rible position to-day, when we realise our isolation. I wish to goodness \Ye could get some people in Queensland to think a little more deeply and appreciate exactly the menace to Australia. New countries are coming into the war each week; our armies are going into stmnge lanlls and lhing under conditions that have never been good. They are fighting from day to day hoping and trusting that we shall l.Je sufticiently strong to guarantee that Australia is kept free ancl shall continue to enjoy the right to conduct her own affairs and improvcc her conditions as she is lloing at present. There seems to be a little slackness in the people; I suppose the Governor has done more than any other man in Queensland to place the seriousness of the position before the people, l.Jut the Premier· has done remarkably well. I listened to the remarks he made ~t the official luncheon during Exhibition week. Tle >Yas not only n good recruiting agent and put the cnse clearly before the people, but he also played the game IYith the Fedeml GoYern­ment. He has insiae knowledge as to whether they are doing good work or not. Whether a, Labour Government are in power or not, I am going to support the Government to the utmost because I c,an tl·ust a.ny Australian to do the difficult duty of fighting an enemy who wants to take Australia, just the same as I can trust myself.

As a P'arlia.ment, I llo not think IH' have done our dnty in helping recruiting. Some hl)IJ. members have gone out of their way to help in this direction, and some have been complimented by letter by the military auth­orities for the work they have done. }Iembers of this Assembly have joined the fighting forces, others have volunteered for other ser­vice, and some are devoting their efforts to other branches of military work, but we have not done our duty as a Parliament in support­ing the Premier in the recruiting campaign. I slwnld like to see our efforts reach the height they did in the 1914-18 campaign, when representatives from both sides of the House \Y('nt all over the State placing the serious­LC'ss of the position clearly before the people. \Ye mustererl at that time about 370,000 men to go away from the shores of Australia.. I know that to-day we have 400,000 men under arms in Australia and abroad. A certain nnmber arc required for home llefenc€. Personally, I do not think that they will be required unless .Japan comes into the war. Then, many of onr people will wake up. They will realise that their standard of liYing may be reduced to that of Jnr~n m·

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122 Address in Reply. [ASSEMBLY.] Address in Reply.

they nwy be put on the same social level as the Japanese. That will be one of Japan's peace terms if we happen to lose. It may IJe wise for the Premier to call a meeting of uoth sides of the House in an effort to help recruiting in this State.

I have heard it remarked that the military reuplc are not cloiug anything.

Tlle Premier: I do not think anybody ~~~tacked the military organisation.

Jir. WALKER: Our Federal members arc watching the interests of Queensland and, in my opinion, are not neglecting their duty because tbev are imhned with the same love fell their ~ountry as we are. I should c·ertainh- like to see some combinccl effort to get mor·e recruits, because we arc sworn to the n•luntary system. Such a system will not he a sne·~e.,s unless we are prepared to go nll owr the country and put the case fairly anrl sqnarely before every eligible man in ({ueenslancl. 1 do not ~arc whose son he may he, if he is an eligible man his place is in khaki alongsitle our other boys.

\Ye are in, perhaps, a more fortunate position away out here than our kin in the British Isles and perhaps we clo not realise what the war is that is raging on the other sidf' of the world.

The newspapers are full of contradictions ancl misunderstandings. :From time to time we do not know where we arc. The same can be said of the news oHr the air. I suppose it is all based on the cables that are sent out to ns by someone, hnt they are full of misunder­standing. Ho>Yever, there is one thing we clo know, and it is that the British Isles have been bombed from morning till night, that the people arc short of food, and that they are \\"Orking long hours. All the public men have b:mdrd together in one political party and with the one objective of winning the war. They arc not talking a bout strikes; they have their shoulders to the wheel, because they realise the gravity of the whole situation. It is directlY before them. But how different it is in this country! We pick up our papers and see the pictures of churches and hospitals blown to eternity in the British Isles. The English papers are full of casualty lists and reports of sinkings of merchant ships within a stone's thTow of the English Channel. The gravity of the war is brought more forcefully before the people of the British Isles than it is in Australia. In Australia >Ye do not know that there is actually a war on. By that I mean that we cannot actuallv hear the boom­ing of the guns. Of com·se we ha.-e our easnalty lists, and perhaps ~n unfortunate aerident or two at our aerodromes. We must realise that more will have to be clone.

'l'he hon. member for Hamilton referred in glowing terms to the efficient primarv­prodncing organisation that has been built up o> er the years. I make bold to sa v that 90 per cent. of the primary producers control their mYn exports. The organisations have done splend.id service O!l behalf of the primary producers m controllmg the sale of their products, in negotiating agreements in reducing insurance charges, and, in many ~thcr \\-ays. Indeed, up to the outbreak of war

there were very few complaints by the primary proc1ucers. 'l'hese self-same organisa­tions arc facing up to their new difficulties to-day. For instance, what hope has the sugar industry of selling the whole of its output'? Everyone realises that there are no ships to take the sugar away and that much of it must be disposed of in Australia. In the case of wheat we hanJ lost the Japanese market and the farmer will have to be content to take whatever the people of Australia can afford to give him for his grain. I have no doubt that the growers will have to be content with half of their previous return. The same may be said of butter and other primary products. But the spirit of the farmer remains. He is still a brave man, and he is not snivelling about his conditions. He has made a genuine ancl forthright effort to bear his troubles. The butter people are doing that, and what is more, they are willing to incur additional expenditure amounting to thousands of pounds to switch over from butter production to cheese. The cost must come out of the milk can Ol' the cream can.

All the primary producers are shouldering their difficulties manfully, because they realise the gravity of the international situation. 'l'hey are setting an example to a great number of trade unions in Australia who are belly-aching because their members have to handle some small material on the railway or somewhere else. That does not involve any risk to their lives or increase the burden of their clay's labour. We must be big an cl the men in the cities and towns must realise that it is their duty to give the Commonwealth 100 per cent. efficiency so that we may win the war. The same laudatory remarks may be used of the cotton industry and many others.

Unfortnnately, one of the greatest obstacles in the way of the country's effort is the petrol-rationing scheme. It is an unfortunate business, but "-hen I come to Brisbane it hurts me to see people running round in beautiful motor rars with a damn lot of poodle clogs while we in the country cannot get enough petrol to enable us to go to town or to do our ordinary marketing work. That is a shocking state of affairs ancl it is time an investigation >vas made.

We also see joyriders driving out into the country. 'l'hat needs to be cut right out, and after the supplies of the military have been pTOviclecl for, the requirements of the farmer and all those working the land attended to.

I congratulated you, ;\fr. Speaker, on a former occasion, and I am pleased to be able to clo so again on your re-election to the chair. \Ve very much appreciate your elec­tion. Everyone in this House knows, not only your ability to discharge your duties to the satisfaction of this House, but also the fair­ness with which you do so. The •·ery fact that you haye occupied your present and other positions in this Home over a number of years reflects the fact that you have created a confidence in this House which I dare to say was created by no other Spenker.

Our :financial year has been a very good one, taking everything into consideration. \Ye

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Address in Reply. [28 AT:GUST.] Address in Reply. 123

had a bad start last year. When all is saicl and done, the production, not only of the man on the land, but of secondary industry, is reflected in the financial position of the State. 'l'he Treasurer finished the year with a surplus of approximately £38,000-a very creditable performance, indeed, provii!ell that the balance­sheet was out fair and square. I do not want to sec any transfer of funcls to consoli­dated revenue, nor do I want forestry rc\-cJme put into consolidated revc1me, or the expendi­ture on reforestation taken out of Loan :Funds. All those tricks do not get us an;rwhcre. It is far better for us to come out with a deficit and say, "\Ve have a deficit, but >Ye have a clean balance-sheet.'' I am not suggesting it is not a clean balance-sheet, but that is my idea. We should tell the people everything, as they are the best judges, and if they haYe any sense of fairness at all, they will make any allowance that should he made for am-­thing that is unfavourable to us, for any­thing that may be wrong in either climatic or any other con<litions.

I have heard a great de:Jl said about our war work. For instance, l heard the remarks this moming of the hon. member for Kennedy. I can assure you, Mr. Speaker, and the hon. member also, that if he will only get into touch with the military authorities he will get his grievances rectified quite easily. I dare say that I get into touch with them more than any other hon. member. I go to the head of the particular department affected as I find it the best method of getting grievances rectified. The military authorities arc only too pleased to do so. Like all men in high positions, they do not know everything und they must be guided by men >vho understand local conditions and circumstances. If we all talk of our little grievances without taking them to the head of the service affected we slwll get nmvhere. \Ve shall only humiliate those men who are doing their very best to serve. A military man may be sent here from Victoria, because he is the senior in- his branch of his service, and he is only too willing to receive advice on local conditions. There arc dozens of branches in the mi1 itarv service and it is •·ery 11ccessarv that w;, approach the head of 'the one affected. It is no use our going to the heac1 of the Intelli· gence section if our representation affects some other section. I know men in mv elec­torate who have done nnd aTe doing remark· nhle service for the eountrv, and I have not one grievance in regard. to anv of the boys which they have not rectifiec1. ·one ease was that of a man who was discharged from the service because of a broken wrist. 'rho other day that man received £207 compeEsa· tion because his injnr~· is of a permanent nature. I give that example to illustrate that if we go the right way about matters we ~m1 get grievances rectHied.

We can help the Federal Go.-ernment with regard to many of onr products. Lnst :n•ar the Secretary for Agriculture nnd Stock, supported by the Secretary for Labour and Industry, launched a scheme that had for its object increasing cotton production by supply­ing machineq for irrigation. The idea of

producing more cotton is quite a sound on~. At that time hon. members of this party, realising the urgency of the matter, and also knowing that the season was right on the farmer, urged that the scheme be accelerateii. That >vas because we knew that it ,,-as no use turning over land in January that must be turned over the month before. Had onr ad.-ice been taken at that time cverv fanner \\·ha hall any patriotic instinct in him would have p l::mted an acre or two of cotton, but the delay that took place then, and the expen­siYe method of irrigation suggested, was he;·ond all reason. E1•en if the farmer g<Ots :2s. a lb. for his cotton he cannot gro\\ it with irrigation of that sort. \Ye pointed out at the same time that if the scheme had be,~n h9ndled in another wav the farmers in the B~·is!J:me and Mary Valley districts eould grow cotton on land that was not regan1er1 as their best land. At that time I said that the farmer was actuated by the smn(' patriotic motives as impelled any boy to offer his sen·ices to the country.

'T'hev hat1 the horses and the im]Jlcm·ents anr1 the~· con](] haYe had a large nop last year. The Minister is advocating similar practices to-day, bnt >Ye are losing time. Let us not "·ait for another month. If the Secretary for Agriculture and Stock i~ not back within a couple of days 1 should like to see the Premier take up tl1e nwtie,r, because we are losing valuable time. \Ye slwulc1 make a special effort to get cwry fa1·mer to put in from 1 to 10 acres wherever he can. In some places they have not even a stump on the land, and it is fenced in all Teady to plough. We should help the mili­tary authorities in that way, anr1 in r1oing so ·we should be ranYing out a wondel"ful wmk for the country. \V e shonW only be doing what we haYe a duty to do as pro­r1ucers. I think every man in this House representing a countTy constituency from :\fonto Tight down to BTisbane should go to his electomte and put the case dearly to his people and enl'phasise the mgency of the matter. If that was done, I prophesy that insteac1 of getting 12,000 bales we should get 40,000 or 50,000 bales this year ~ncl 80,000 next year. 'l'hat is the only pTacbral way of getting on with the business. The advice of experts is to be had at the depart­ment and the faTmer can readily ascertain the ~uantitv of cotton that l1is land will produ're an· arre and the tvpe that is most suitable for him to grow in his district. In the early days onlv one YaTi?h· of cotton >Yas gro,Yn, because it was consHlered a gooll, strong staple and free from disease, hut now ~fr. Wells has taken charge there aTe dozens of good types that can be planted that will give the staple the manufactureTs insist 011.

Strikes aTe sometimes so hannful that I often wonder whv the Government do not do something aho.ut them. I am not Tefer­Ting to the Industrial Conrt in any >Yay; in my opinion, it is doing excellent woTk nnd above any nonsense. I know two of the nl'embeTs ·of that rourt very well-the third I do not-and I know their decisions would be busec1 on the evidence before them. T

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124 Address in Reply. [ASSEMBLY.] Address in Reply.

n•alh think the Government should do some­thing. Two years ago we had a beer strike; we lwYe a bakers' strike to-day which has been declared illegal by the court, but it still goes on. The Australian \Vorkers' Union, a well-known union, the secretary of which­Mr. Fallon-was responsible for sending out literatme in the interests of Labour and against our people at the last election, gave £100 to the bakers' strike fund, ]mowing the strike ;,-as illegal. It is not so much a ques­tion of a bakers' strike as such as that strikes at a time like this, particularly, lead the young men astray and they immediately think they can do anything. The thing ought to be crushed. All these go-slow tactics shoul<1 be discouraged. I think Parliament shoulrl be big enough to put these people in their places by saying, "You are in the Wl'Ong: there is a war on; don't you realise that·?'' It could be put in probably stronger words-the way the Premier can put it. (Laughter.) 'l'hen we should get somewhere.

\Ve had another exhibition of the Crown employees wanting overtime for doing a little work-in conneetion with which they would learn something-in protecting the State's building·s. I admit that they were divided on the question, but it was wrong for any to object. What we should do is what we did in the early da:ys: volunteer for the defence forces and go and drill without pav at all. You and I, :\fr. Speaker, are proof that they proilnl'ed pretty big soldiers under that system. In addition to that, 11·e have other worries in the country. First of all, we have the large number of country hovs who have volunteered for the front, ai1d at the present time I can assure hon. members of the House there is a shortage of labour in the country districts. You can go to any dail'v at day­light and you will see the mot'hor 'out milking, whereas she should be at home cooking the bTeakfnst or looking after the baby. Because of the heavy enlistments ill countrv areas that a]lplies ·to almost every dair:y ·herd in Queensland,

Munition works have been started in and around Brisbane and other centres, and, of comse, that absorbs a great amount of labour. Thou~ands are employed in such work, and there are thousands at the front, one of the results being that unemployment is nmy down to 3.9 per cent. I really think that a large portion of that percentage, and 1 think the Premier will agree with me in this, are uneH!'ployahle, otherwise they would haYc g·ot into work befOTe this. Uilfortun­ately. lYC do not lmow what to do with them. I do not know of any Government, irrespec­ti\ e of party, who have not had to face the cliffieult problem of the man with a wife and family \Yho is not keen to get to work.

I ,,.as very surprised that the Premier and the Treasurer the other day used language in this House that I think was unfair. The Tr.easurer spoke of the Opposition Party as bemg the P.O. I'arty. He explained that P.O. meant Permanent Opposition, but also was an article of crockeryware. I do not think that was at all fair.

The Treasurer: I did not say it, I never said ''crockery.''

Mr. WALKER: The Premier referred to the Opposition as the C.N. Party, which he explained meant the Cheap and Nasty Party. 'l'he hon. member for Kennedy did the same. That method of debate should be confined to children. If I have misquoted the hon. gentlen1en I shall be pleased to withdraw, hut I can assure the House that I am speak­ing quite sincerely. That type of debate brings Parliament into disrepute. If the debates proceed on similar lines we can retaliate. I could refer to the Labour Party as the Liar Party or the Lousy Party, hut that would be wrong. I have the greatest respect for some hon. men1bers opposite, and I know of the sacrifices made by former Labour men many years ago. I hope and trust 're shall hear no more of these remarks, particularly at a time when we should be unitedly putting our shoulders to the wheel to help the Commonwealth Government to get soldiers to win the war.

I should like to refer at greater length to the reference to my paTty as the Cheap and Xastv Party. There are seven members of the Country PaTty on this side of the House, who among them haYe 12 sons at the fr.ont. That is something· for those who are inclmed to the belief that members of Parliament on both sideg of the House are doing nothing to think about. Three members of this Par­liament are in uniform, and I dare say that m:ost of the eligible boys belonging to hon. members are playing the game with regard to the war. No man who feels he has a responsibility to fight for his country cannot put forward an aTgumcnt "hy he should not fight for it,

As I haye said pYcviously, I will support any Government in this war in theiT war eff?rt. If the Premin ean bring forward anythmg to support Mr. Menzies I shall be r:ight behind him. I was behind Andrew Frsher iri the last war and Mr. Scullin later. I would not listen to any person who opposed them, as I knew they had inside ir:formation and also that their love for therr country \Yas just as gTeat as if not greater than my own.

The hon. member faT Hamilton made an excellent speech, and I hope he will allow a humble man like myself to offer that opinion; I was particulaTly pleased with it. It was applauded very much by mcmbeTs of the Labour PaTty. But two or three very import­ant matters were omitted, and the applause was absent for a time. He referTed to the fact that Queensland was not getting a fair share of the Commonwealth expenditure. The Commonwealth Goven111rent have been fail' as much as possible. There aTe very many things that hav0 to be considered when it comes to spending· money.

FoT example, they want an aerodrome at Gympie. They cannot have an aerodrome there because there is no suitable ground. '_{'here are many other factors of importance that must be considered by those who know.

The other day the Premier read out a table to show that millions of pounds were being spent here. He went on to prove that

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Address in Reply. [28 AUGUST.] Add1·es' in Reply. 125

11 e have had a fair share of the money in that unemployment has been reduced to ;;,g per cent. Almost every wOTkable man is being l'mployed. vVe have gone further than that, but we are lagging behind in secondary industries for the simple reason that our basic wage has been higher, our \YOrking· conditions more lenient, and taxa­tion hem·icr than in other States. That is the reason \Yhy we have not obtained those contracts, I can assure hon. lllEnnbcrs that Home of our tenders have been as high as 25 per cent. above those of Southern manu­factnrers.

The Premier: Can you tell me what tenders those were, and for what?

iUr. WALKER: I can. I am not going to publish it here bewuse it would not l.Je fair, l>nt I shall be only too pleased to \vrite down the information so that the Premier may see >Yhat ::VIr. Corser shm;ed me last year in confidence. lt is nflhnal that that must not go to the public.

'l'he Premier: There is only one that I kno,,- of that comes \Yithin that catc~ory, and that is in connection with munition cases. The J<'orestTy Department, through the GoYernment, dealt with that and put it on a pToper basis. And that was due in the first instance to faulty specifications!

lUr. WALKER: I was astounded when I compared the various tenders that were shown to me during the last Federal elec­tion. Many years ago we realised that it cost a great deal more to manufacture any­thing in Queensland than it did in the Southern States. I have given the reasons for that. The woTse phase of that is that we have a depleted investing public. They are im esting their money down South where they can get a fair retmn.

Yesterday an hon. member mentioned the high company taxation as a reason why "WC

were lagging, and he was laughed at. He \Vas accused of looking after the big man. It is the poor man who is hmt to-day by company taxation. He is not getting work, :md when all is said and done, there are very few companies in Queensland outside the breweries W"ho aTe making much above 5 peT cent. at pTesent. There is nothing in that to compensate fOT the risk of investment. If retnrns "Were assured, as they are in Govern­ment loans, perhaps that would be an adequate return, but we all know that with the manipu­lation and fluctuation of markets, and com­petition with similar industries all over the world, our manufacturers are running a great risk. Most of the people have been putting their money into war-savings certificates for a long "While. The business people are now flocking to war savings and war loans, but the poor people who did not know the work­ings of commerce were investing in loans to obtain security ancl freedom from worry.

Our sec0m1ary industries of Queensland are confined mainly to those of a purely local character or closely associated with primary industries. In Queensland the fruit, drink, and tobacco group represents 60 per cent. of the factory output. In New South Wales the

proportion is only 22 per cent., whilst in Victoria it is 28 per cent. What the hon. member for Hamilton said as to our lagging behind in secondary industries is quite true, but I have given the reasons, and I should ha \"8 liked him to emphasise them.

JUr. Pie: I contradict one of those reasons. I do not agree that in all cases those are the reasons.

J.Ur. WALKER: Leaving out the food, drink, and tobacco group-the group con­taining industries not affected by interstate competition-factory output in the four years 1935-36 to 1939-40 inclusive rose in Queens­land by only £7,000,000, compared with £53,000,000 in New South Wales and £:!6,000,000 in Victoria.

\Ve have been lagging behind for a num­ber of years. PeTsonally, I should like to see uniformity all over the Commonwealth. W c should then have a chance of competing with those down South, to our advantage, because many of the exportable products are pro­duced here.

J!'igures have been published from time to time shmYing that contract prices in Queens­land for war requirements have been higher than those submitted by tenc1erers in the Southern States. Queensland has conse­quently missed the opportunity of getting those orders for \Yar work. The Common­wealth Gorernment cannot be blamed for this state of affairs. Only recently it was reported that a Lancashire textile company spent £600,000 in South Australia. Why did it do that~ The answer is that its invest­ment of £600,000 was a better one in South Australia than in Queensland. That is the sum total of the whole business, and unless we rectify that evil we shall not encourage industTies to come here. Even the farmer knows that the local market is the best he can get.

The hon. member for Hamilton advanced the extraordinary argument that Queensland should be allocated orders on a population basis. That would never 1o. It would not do for the Commonwealth Govcnunent to say that Queensland was to get so much of the orders, Victoria was to get so much, and so on, according to population. This whole business mnst be carried ont hy the contract llystem. Of course, I realise'" that higher prices have been paid in Queensland than m the South because the material was wanted m·gently for war purposes-there is no need for me to refer to the actual items. Sup­pose Vidoria was given an onln for 50,000 pairs of boots at 12s. a pair nnd Queensland given an order for 25,000 pairs at the econo­mic price to the Queensland manufacturer of 16s. a pair. That would never do. \Ve should have the spectacle of Victoria and South Australia fighting us-the old fight about sngar would 1)8 nothing to it. Ficti­tious firms would spring up overnight and enormous difficulties woulc1 arise if such a policy was adopted. There ;vould be. no incentive for people to put then money mto anything. There would be just a scramble

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126 Address in Reply. [ASSEMBLY.] Address in Reply.

and we should get nowhere. vVe should never cope with the lag in secondary imlnstrics in Queensland in that way.

We have to realise our hanllicaps and remove them. V{p can only impTOve our manufactming position by establishing con­ditions that will allow our manufacturers to compete with those in the other States. In this connection, I shonlll like to point out that in J 914, proportionately to popula­:ion, Queensland occupied second position 111 Australia in factory employment. At present we occupy the last position. Ever since the L8 hour Prnty came into existence they seem to have created an atmosphere of hardship; our place has been shifted from second position to last. 'rhese conditions have to he altered. It is better to alter them than for any party on the hustings to say "vV e are paying the highest basic wage in the Commonwealth; we are giving you the the shortest >Yorking hours.'' vVhen all is said and done, >Yho pays for the basic wage~ The man who is receiving it. From the clay he receives an increase of 5s. a week he is charged another 4s. or 5s. in his cost of living. \Ve are getting nowhere under such a system. Only the other day the Minister for 'L'rans port said that he wns fmcec1 to put up our railway fares and freights because of the increase in the basic wage and other factors. I understand the cost- was estimated at £400,000, including factors other than the basic 'v::l.ge.

I should no>v like to deal >dth the prisoners of war who are coming out to Australia.

I strongly believe that prisoners of war should be made to work, and I cannot under­stand whv the Government or the unions are opposed to that idea.

Jir. Collins: The Returned Soldiers' League is opposed to it.

Jir. WALKER: H does not matter. It does not matter whether the Commonwealth Government or the State Government are opposed to it. We have the right to insist that they do some work in this countrv. Whv should we be taxed to feed these mCilf Afte'r all is said and done, a man with 8 or 10 children pays mon~ tax than vou or I, ::\fr. Sneaker. Why should we keep these prisoners of war in idleness and Juxurv ~ I should like this Governnwnt to put si1itablc pl'i,oncn out on the di)- arens to clear enough lanr1, build roads, nnr1 provide water so that our own returned soldiers may have a goon opportunit:v of engaging in agricultme when they return from the fighting front. Settling n couple of thousand men in that way would be n boon to them and an advantage to the Stak

(Time expired.)

Jfr. BROWN (Logan) (2.56 p.m.): I join with other hon. members in congratulating you, Mr. Speaker, upon being unanimously reappointed to your high position. I con­sidered it an honour to have the privilege of nominating you as Speaker of this Parliament. I suppose that you have had so many con­gmtulations now that you will think that

they are really true. (Laughter.) The I,eader of the Opposition urged you to >vear your robes of office, and I admire you for deciding not to do so. You are just as good a Speaker, if not a better one, sitting there in your private clothes as you would be dotheil in robes of office. The Lord Mayor of BTisbanc has taken a lead from you, because he does not wear his robes of office. As I have already said, I admire you all the more for not doing so.

I desire to congratulate the Premi~r on his splendid success at the polls. On four occasions he has gone to the countr;- and been successful. 'rhat is a very fine recon1, and I say without fear of contradiction, not because the Premier is in the Olwmbcr, but hcc:8usc it is my firm convietion-am1 I haw said it outside-that I should like to see the Premier in charge of the Commonwealth p,,rJimnent to-davc There is no man in Australia who could. handle the Federal political situation better than the Hon. \Y. F01·gan Smith. I mu sin(·ere in "·hat I am saying and other men in high positions also hold the vie>Y that he is an outstanding man in the Con11nomyealth, anr1 that if he were Prime Minister the political situation would be much better than it is.

Jir. Hart: He might call them twirps.

)Ir. BROW~: I will deal with the hon_ member later; I have something to tell him.

I desire to congratulate the Leader of the Opposition on his appointment to the important position of Leader of the Opposi­tion. He is a man with a charming personality and I was surprised that his deputy <lid not tune him up before he, the Leader of the Opposition, moved his amendment to the Address in Reply. Whether he wanted to belittle him so that he could slip into the position I do not know, but it was bad policy amounting to lack of foresight to take a Taw Tecruit from the ranks and put him in the high chair of Leader of the Opposition with­out tuning him up by telling him that he was doing >nong in not notifying the Leader of the Government that he proposed to mo.-e the nmendment. On that amendment I >vant to sny--

)Ir. SPEAKER: Order! The hon. member will not be in order in discussing the nmend­ment, as it has been defeated.

:'\Ir. BROWN: Very well, Mr. Speaker.

~Ir. :Edwards: He put you in your place.

3-Ir. BROWN: We on this side of the House do not get any more privileges under :\fr. Speaker than the Opposition.

I also want to congratulate other hon. mem­bers of the Opposition. Take the whip of the party. He is only sitting in this House as a result of the contingent vote. That is to say, some electors in the electorate he repTe­sents had two votes, and he got enough of the No. 2 votes to elect him, othenvise he would not have been in this House to-day. The same remarks apply to the hon. memb~r for Sandgate. He also is here as a Tesult of the use of the contingent vote. Tlit- same applies also to the hon. member for vVindsor

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Address in RepLy. (28 AUGUST.] Address in Reply. 127

who was returned because he got the majority of the contingent votes. l like to see a man come into this Chamber elected on the principle of one adult one vote, alHl one vote only. I have always been a believer in that principle. It is as it should be.

X ow take the hon. member for Buudaberg. I should lose my self respect if I entered this Chamber associated with the name of Andv .Fisher and then took my seat on the Oppo­sition side. If the late Andrew :B'ishcr knc11· that I bad done so, and that I \Yas Jiot :1

member of tho Australian l.abour Part,,·, then I am sure be would turn in his gran'. I say that to the hon. member for Bundaberg here anrl no\Y. You are the luckiest man in the \Yorld to get into this Parliament, but you \Yill sit in one Parliament, and one Parliament only.

Jir. Sl'EAKElt: Order! I ask the hon. member to addreRs his remarks to the Chair.

JUr. BR01Y:X: Very well, lVIr. Speaker. I want to say that the hon. member for Bunda­!Jerg \\'ill sit in this Parliament for one Parliament only. Had the election been held again the next day the people of Bnndabcrg, realising what they ha<l done, would have defeated him by over ~,000 votes. I say that \vithout fear of contradiction. I have been speaking to two or three people from Bunda­herg and they told me that people had voted for the hon. member because they thought he was a joke. In my opinion, that is why he is here-this one gave him a vote, and that one gaw him a vote-because they thought he was a joke. It resulted in his election, bnt the people themselves were sorry that he was elected. The hon. member had better make the most of his time while he is here because he will never get into this Chnmhn again.

I \Yant to thank the people of the Logrm electorate for my re-election. For many years Logan was a Tory seat. The Logan electonll roll contains the large~t number of electors of any electoral roll in Queensland. Ovel' 14,000 1Ull11PS appear on it. At the recent election the Press said that Logan \vas one of the electorates that would revert to the Tories, but they were wrong, as they were \YTong before when they said that 200 votes \Youlil split the difference betwen me and the ex­f1eputy leader of the Moore party, Mr. King. Thev \Yere only 2,000 out-2,039 was m;' majority. I want to thank the people for the honour they have conferred upon me.

This morning I listened to the hon. member for \Vymnnn with regard to the workers' dw·ellings and workers' home schemes. T clefv the hon. member for Wvnnum, or anY­body else, to name any part of the worid where they lwve a bet.tPr housing scheme for rho workers than in Queensland.

)Ir. Yeates: South Australia.

l'lfr. BROWN: South Australia is not in the rare. At the recent election the Tories had a building scheme for the workers. They tried to dope the people with this scheme, lmt it did not work at all. More men and women in Queensland have homes of their own

tlwn in any other part of the world, and that is a big thing to say.

Only about four years ago, you will remem­ber, .:.lr. Speaker, the Government .borro·wed money at 4-,) per cent. and len~ ~t to tJ;e 11·orkers for the purpose of bmldmg theu O\Yll ho1;1es, at 4 per tent. Is there anything \Hong with that~

l\Ir. Uart: Why did they not continue?

Jlr. BROWN: They are continuing, and the people of Queensland are con~inuing_ to support the Government who made 1t poss1blo for them to get those homes.

~Ir. Clayton interjected.

Jir. BR01YN: The workers' home scheme is a better scheme than the workers' dwelling scheme. There are any amount of workers' homes in Queensland to-day, ancl there would be more, but the people have not been educated to accepting perpetual leasehold instead of freehold. A worker could have a worker's home built if he had no money at all. If you had a piece of land, the unim­proved value of ':'hich was £100,. the Go,~ern­ment \vonld buy 1t from you-gwe you ;r,100 eash for it, and build you a worker's home on it. '!.'he only thing the worker had to do was to get furniture to 11ut in the home. Is there anything wrong with that scheme¥. Can hon. members point to a scheme th~t IS .an improvement on it~ Even countnes hke England, America, and .Germany sent ?ut representatives to investigate our housmg ~ystem for the workers.

'l'he Opposition say that it was intr?dncecl hy a Tory Government. I know that 1! was introduced by a Tory Government, simply l>ecnnse it was forced on them by the Labour Partv of that day. They had to do it-the peopie demanded it-and when the late Davy Bowman moved an amendment in this Chamber to give the \YOrkers more . benPfits than the Tories were willing to gwe them he was knocked sidewavs. \Ve never got those benefits 1mtil Labour got control.

The Labour Party in Queensland haYe led the world. That is a big thing to say. The first Labour Government in the world \Yere the Gownunent of Queensland, from 1 December, 1899, to 7 Decemher, 1899, when the late Anclv Dawson was Premier. They knew that they did not control the H on se, ::mt the Torv Partv was so strong at that tlme that the T~ab01ir Party could not ,get certain infon1wtiou from the various Government departments. To get this information they took the opportunity of taking !he reins of govennncnt for seven days so that they could get into all the pigeon-hcles of t!Je del_lart­ments and get the information they clesned. Of comsc, when thev met the Honse they were c1cfeaterl. In that Govemment the late Andy Dawson was Premier, the late Billy Kidston was Treasurer, Billy Browne was Secretary for :\fines, and the late Mr. Hardacre, Secretan for Public J_,ands. I think the only member 'of that bam1 alive to-day is Mr. Peter Airey.

Labour has done \Yonderfnl work for the workers and business people of Queensland. I

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128 Address in Reply. [ASSEMBLY.] Address in Reply.

myself have been through the mill from the early days. I take off my hat to no man in this House on either side with regard to work in the early days of the Labour movement in Queensland. I am not telling hon. members about what I have read, but only what I have been through. I never wish to see boys and girls brought up under the conditions of those times. It lws alwavs been my ambition to uplift my fellow-men. · I have always striven to do that. I am indebted to the pioneers who laid the foundation stone of this great Labour movement. E•,·ery man and womnn in Queensland is indebted to those great men.

The hon. member for Wynnum has said that the Government are not doing enough for the people of Qnc<:'nsl:mcl in respect of workers' homes rmc1 dwellings. The hon. member for vVynnum is the biggest house-and-land-owner in \Vynnum. I do not know the number of houses he owns to-day, but I know he owns owr 30.

Il'fr. nART: I rise to a point of order. I do not own 30 houses or anything near that number.

3Ir. BROWN: It might be 31. When the intermittent-relief scheme was in operation I lmmy th:Jt before vou could get a .ioh as a leadmg hand on the relief work YOU had to ·live in ono of, at that time, 1 'Alderman Dart's'' houses. That is a positive fact, and I say that the engineer in whom rested the authority to appoint these leading hands or gangers was a relation of the then Alderman Dart.

JUr. DART: I rise to a point of order. This is offensive to me and I ask the hon. member to withdraw those remarks. I had nothing to do with housing the relief people. The only people I housed were several free ones. The hon. member is making false statements and I ask him to withilraw them.

Mr. SPEAKER: Order! The hon. mem­ber for Logan must accept the statement made by the hon. member £01· \Vynnum.

lUr. BROWN: I accept it, but, by jove, it is hard to take (laughter). I am sincere in IYhat I am saying. I know it to be so. It made my blood boil this morning when I heard the hon. member for \Vynnum con­demning this Government for not doing some­thing better in making provision for workers' homP~. Neither he nor any other hon member in this Chamber can show me any better, or even an equal scheme, in any part of the world. If a man who is buying a dwelling gets sick or loses his employment the Government do not come down upon him and take his house from him; they extend the term, and so long as the man is looking after his home that is all they want. It is not their desire to take homes from the workers. Their wish is to provide homes for the workers.

I was the son of a father IYho lost his home, not to the 1\'orkers' dwelling people, but under the terms of a building society. In those days the wages for blacksmiths, boilermakers, and engineers IYere 10s. a day or £2 15s. a week.

JUr. Rarnes: And they were t·etter off than they are to-day.

Mr. BROWN: They were not, as I shall prow. In those days the building society charged 9 per cent. interest for building a home for a man. To-day, with wages three times what they were then, we pay only 4~ per cent. to the Government. I am a landlord myself.

]}fr. Dart: A bigger one than I am.

1\Ir. BROWN: Not a bigger one, but a better one. I am willing to put my case along­side that of the hon. member for Wynnum, and before any judge that he cares to nominate, even though it be amongst his own ranks, and I am confident that it will be shown that my tenants are better treated than his. I do not want to mention any names, bnt I llaYe one tenant, a returned soldier, who has the cheapest house in Brisbane to-day. This man wns injured in the war and has ne.-er been right since. He myes me three years' rent and I do not care if I never get it. I know the man is honest and that if he gets the money he will pay me. If he cannot pay it does not matter. I am still living. I haYe neYcr put a man out because he could not pay.

}Ir. nart: We do not do thar either.

)fr. BIWWN: I know of a case in which a woman asked the hon. member for \Vynnum to have the water laid on. He had the water laid on, but only as far as the fence. He did not eYen put one tap in the kitchen, and he charged that woman an extra 2s. 6d. a week, becaucce he had put the watt."r to the fence.

}Jr. DART: I rise to a point of order. I should like the remark made by the hon. member for Logan withdrawn. It is abso­lutely untrue. 'l'here was no such c.ase at nll, and his remark is offensive to me.

}Jr. SPJ;AKER: Order! I again ask the hon. member for Logan to accept the denial of the hon. lllcmbcr for \Vynnum.

~Ir. BROWN: All through my life I have appreciated what anybody has done for me. I appreciate what the Labour Party has done for me-done not only for me, but for the working classes. I can take my mind back for many years and remember the time when I sat down to a Christmas dinner in the Coorparoo district of potatoes and dripping, and not too much of them either. I want to say that if any hon. member on the other side of the Chamber had gone through what J have gone through, he would be sitting on this side to-day.

lUr. Edwards: You are blowing your own flute all the time.

}fr. BROWN: The hon. member has not a flute to blow. He has tried to do something that he could not do. I repeat, Mr. Speaker, that it made my blood boil this morning when I heard the hon. member for \Vynnum speak a bout workers' dwellings in this State whell I knew what a landlord he was. J should not l1ave said anything about this mattm· if ]le ktcl not t:lcklcd this Go.-ernment, "·lto ha.-e done so much for the people. Tlw

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Address in Reply. [28 Auaus·.r.] Address in Reply. 129

people have endorsed their actions time after time.

Hon. members opposite never give us credit for anything we do. Anything the workers have got has been given them by a Labour Government. Hon. members on the other side of the Assembly opposed the State insur­ance scheme.

l'i!r. Nimmo: What about workers' com_pensation?

lUr. BROWN: I shall deal with it, too. 'rhe people of Queensland wanted the State Government Insurance Office established because the insurance companies were robbing them. I shall prove that they were by quot­ing my oll'n case. I built a home when wages 1vere about one-third of what they are to-clay, when the cost of building was about one-third of what it is to-clay, and I paid a premium of Ss. 2cl. a £100. That was the minimum premium at that time. I lived on a corner and a certain distance separated nly place from the next-door house. To-clay I am paying about 3s. 3d. a £100, and at a time when 1vages are treble what they were. What, Jliir. Speaker, were the insurance com­panies making in those days 9 I was made chairman of the Coorparoo Shire Council, defeating the late -Waiter Henry Barncs, and I gave instructions to the shire clerk that the YYhole of the property under the control of the council should be transferred to the State Government Insurance Office. Old John Thomson, a red-hot Tory and an old Scots­man, said, '' J olm, you know that the other insurance companies are only charging the same.'' I said to him, ''Yes, I know, and that is because the State Government Insur­ance Office has made them com·e down; they had to come down to compete for the busi· ne ss.''

One hon. member opposite spoke about workers' compensation, and I want to tell him that Andy J<'isher was responsible for the introduction of workers' compensation. The hon. member for Bundaberg can take no credit for that. Bai Jove, no! (Laughter.) I will give him very little credit while I am in this Chamber. That was one of the finest Acts ever put on the statute-book. Prior to that date, if a man was killed at his work, his widow got nothing at all. Before his body was even cold another man was in the job and on with the work.

JUr. Nimmo: I think Mr. Blair, after­wards Chief JusticP, introduced that measure.

}Ir. BROWN: Nothing of the sort; it was Andy Fisher. \Vhen Mr. Foxton, a former Home Secretary, introduced a Bill to deal with the early closing of business places, he was man enough to say that it was not his Bill, that it was Frank :VIacDonncll 's, because he had advocated early closing inside of Parliament and out of it for years. Hon. membeTS opposite would try to tell us what _he~- have clone, and that reminds me that one \ime an estate was cut up down at Balmoral. ,_ man came to me at my blacksmith's shop ,ncl said, ''Look, we are cutting up a big· state and I want you to come r1own. I will

1941-F'

give you a couple of allotments to start the sale going.'' I said, ''All right.'.' It wil~ just show what these land agents >Vlll do. Of course, I am not referring to the hon. member for Sandaate, nor the hon. member for :Maree, nor the h~m. member for Windsor, but if they want to be in the same kind of thing they can. That is their business.

Mr. Gair: They probably are. lUr. BROWN: If they are-well, I am not

going into any details about it. That is entirely for them. We jumped into a cab and someone said to the driver, ''Go for your life, but do not knock anything,'' We went oYer the Victoria Bridge, into Grey street, and sure enough we knocked an old ea b by flying. vVe smashed his cab. The police came and the usual inquiries were made. Then the fellow selling the land said, '' Ring up for another ea b. vV e cannot stop business for this sort of thing.'' (Laughter.) That just shows what they would do to try to sell land and to make money. He tried to sell some of the land to me. I said, '' \Vhat do you want for it?" I thought I could get it for about a fiver a piece, but he said, '' £135 a block.'' I said, ''Take me back as quickly as yon can to my blacksmith's shop, but do not knock anybody.'' (Laughter.) That is rxactly what happened.

Turning to a more serious vein, let me say that the war is a very serious matter. EYery­one of ns should be in it. An~·one who has a bit of British pluck in him should be in it. I am prepared to cany out my job as member of Parliament from now until the end of the war, without any wages whatsoever, _if all busi­Dess people will hand oY-er everythmg to the Government and everybody at work, no matter what it may be, works for no wages, simply getting food and clothing until the end of the war.

Opposition Members: You are quite safe. lUr. BROWN: I say it is quite wrong that

big companies should make big profits out of the war. You see them making thousands and thousands of pounds out of war work. That is altogether a wrong spirit. No-one should be allowed to make any profit at all out of \Yar work. During the last war I was working for my father in Elizabeth street. A transport tied up at Birt 's wharf in Stanley street and was scheduled to leave port next day. \Ve had to make a lot of iron hooks. The authorities came to us and said, '' vVe do not care how much they cost as long as we get them.'' My father and I worked all ni!iht, and got as many hooks out as we possibly could before the ship left next day. I kept the time book, and I said to my father, "What time will I book T" He said, "Just charge the ordinary time, plus the ordinary overtime.'' \V e got ls. Gel. ear h for those hooks, and I dare say that others cl;argecl as much as 5s. for them. All blacksnnths were npproached and asked to make them quickly. Some men who call themselves patriots make big profits out of war efforts, thus showing they haYe no patriotism about them. I say without fear of contradiction that there should be no profit in war-time efforts. This is an

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!30 Address in Reply. [ASSEMBLY.] Address in Reply.

all-in war, and we should be all in it and pour our all into it. Nothing matters as long as we >vin the war. I realise that if we do not win the war anything we have, or any condi­tions the workers enjoy to-day, will be gone for all time.

Honourable )lembe,rs: Hear, hear!

lUr. RIORDAN (Bowen) (3.33 p.m.): I first of all d.esire to congratulate you, sir, on your re-electwn as Speaker. Those of us who had the pleasme of sitting under you in the last Parliament know you to be eminentlY fitted for the job. Consequently, you were ni'­elected unanimously to the position.

I do not want to take up the time of this House in rehashing a lot of stuff that has been said by hon. members on both sides of the House. Much of what has been said bv hon. members opposite was nothing else bu't ''sly hooey,'' particularly their remarks during the last couple of days. They do not reflect much credit on j)eople who say that this should be a period of unity, because that is necessary for winning the war. I realise, like other hon. members, that the winning of this war is the :first and only considemtion of the people of this State and country. We all realise that the winning of this war is abso­lutely essential for the preservation of democracy in this country, and the preserva­tion of the conditions we live under to-day. Those conditions may not be all we desire them to be. In fact, we on this side of the House believe much yet remains to be done. No-one believes we have reached the millen­ium. Anyone in this, or any other country, who suggests that we have, is merely pulling his own leg. I am one of those who believe that there is much to do, not only for this Parliament, but for the Federal Parliament of this country, towards the betterment of conditions, not only of the workers hut the primary producers and eYeryone else who lives in the country.

We hear much talk about thP Ne\Y Order. All this blk of the New Order was inspired nnder most tragic drcum'stames; it starter! when Lonrlon was being bombed anr1 when Coventry· and the whole of Rngland were suffering one of the most dreadful onslaughts of savagery aml barbarism the world has experienced. France had been overrun. }fnst of the damage had been done by Fifth Columnists-people who ocmpicr1 high places, but who, to protect their own hides nnd tlwir own .-esterl interests, were prepared to be traitors to one of the :finest countries of the >vorld-one of the countries where the lights of democracy :first shone. Those 11eople in those hilth ]>laces were willing to ignore all those consir1erations in order to protect their own vested interests and their own scalv hicks. They were 'villing to sell the workm:~ of that country-men who had built up a culture and conditions that were beautiful, men who had fosten•d the princinles of demo­cracy that America included in 'her Constitu­tion: ::'-Iost of its democratic principles had been handed on to that countrv as a result of the revolution in France -ivhich lighted the flame of democracy that threw a light (JYer the rest of the world.

I \\'US particularly surprised to hear the hou. menrbcr for l'vfaree-a new member, a man who says he is a man of the people and comes from the big, broad, open spaces of North Queensland-make a protest against an organisation known as the Australian Workers' Union. I suggest the hon. member's chief complaint was not that the AustTalian \Vorkers' Union had a monopoly, but because at the bottom of his heart he was opposed to the principles of unionism. He knows that if the Australian Workers' Union, the strongest union in this countr:v, could be smashec1, then the other unions, being com­paratively small fry, could be easily dealt >Yith. There was another man who came in here aml indulged in cheap gibes and sneers at the Australian Workers' Union, which represents 60,000 or 70,000 unionists in this State. That gentleman alleged that organisers of this union were half-wits, but he is now seeking re-election to Parliament in a constituency that will not return him. Everybody has to pay respect to industrial organisation in this country, because it is !.'ssential in any State or country. It is just as essential for the employer as the employee that there should be industrial organisation in industry.

An Opposition lliember: Let the Govern­ment do their ;job.

lUr. RIORDAN: The Government do their ;job thoroughly. I wish some of these people could see some of the industries I know that are sweating women and children-I refer particularl:v to the clothing trade-and they would learn much about some of the sweating that is going on in industry. Unfor­tunately, owing to the lack of organisers and the position of State and Federal awards govcming this industry, it has not been pos­sible up to date to track down some of these offenders. They will, however, be rounded up surely and slowly.

I make those remarks in regard to the Australian Workers' Union particularly, because of the statement by the hon. member for Maree and the fact that any such onwnisation in this State should receive the respect of every hon. member in this House because it is carrying on ,,-ork essential for the peaceful conduct o1 industry. Why the eheap gibes from hon. members of the Oppo­sition at organised labour when a State 1 he size of Queenslanc1 is to-day particularly free from industrial strife~ Hon. members opposite have asked, ''What of the moulders' strike nt Ipswich?" That is a m'atter of 8 or 10 men involved in an industrial dispute. \Vho is to say that these men do not honestly tl,ink they are in the right? I have been in industrial disputes and also in disputes against the decisions of the Indus­trial Court, because the majority of members of my organisation at that time thought that they were right. If they think they are right that is their concern. I am not holding that strikes against orders of the court or anything snch as that are right, but why put forward the paltry instance of six men indulging in a strike against something that they think is wrong?

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Address in Reply. [28 AUGUST.] Address in Reply. 131

Of course, hon. members opposite have said that the bakers are on strike. That is ~ question for the bakers to decide. Why talk of industrial strife in Queensland when, on one hand, you can quote only one instance in this State and, on the other, find sensa­tional headlines in the Press almost any morning of the 1veek about disputes in other States in which 2,000 or perhaps 15,000 people are on strike~ That is the difference between Queensland and the other States.

Much has been said of Queensla'nd 's not getting· her fair share of defence and muni­tion onlers. Proof of that is to be found in this morning's Press. In answer to a question or statement by 1\Ir. Rosevear in the Fedcrnl Parliament about a grant, sub­sidy, or loan of £10,000 to the Mount J\!Iorgan Company, 1\Ir. Farlden, the Treasurer, saicl that it was right something should be done for Queensland because Quecnslancl, from the point of view of defence and munition orders, was being more or less stunted.

The Premier: The Queensland Govern­ment recommended that loan to the 1\fonnt ::\I organ Company.

:Jfr. RIO RH AN: If the Queensland Govemment Tecommended that loan to the company for the opening up, expansion, and production of copper they were doing what was right and e·'·Sential for this State and Auslrnlia.

Jir. Luckins: It should have been double.

lUr. RIORDAN: The Opposition are very generous when it comes to handing out money in certain directions, but continually they have been telling us how magnificently the Federal Government has been treating Queensland in defence OTders. vVo know that the Federal Government's policy is to make Queensland a primary-producing State if they c~n do so. Everything points to that. The Premier the other clay showed how', but for persistent agitation and repeatedly bringing before the proper autho­rities the facilities in existence in Queens­land, Queensland \\·onld not have got the £2,000,000 worth of defence, munition, and other orders that she is getting.

To the hon. member for Maree, who has said that the loan for the development of Mount J\!Iorgan should have been twice the amount it is, I would sav that that is a que,tion for the Mount Morgan Company. It has not said that it requires more than £10,000. That loan might not have been so freely granted had it not been for the fact that the Treasurer in the Federal Government is and has been a big shareholder, and is a past director of that company.

1\lr. Luckins: Mr. For de advocated it.

1\Ir. RIORDAN: And Mr. Forde has advocated many others things, but the Com­monwealth Government have not been so liberal in their treatment of proposals with prospects much bTighter than those of Mount Chalmers or in their dishing out of orders for munitions and defence works in this State. l'\o.one can suggest that ono is biased iu

making that statement. I am not biased. I t1JU only too pleaseu to think that the Commonwealth Government are making that money m-ailable to the Mount Morgan Com­}Jany, but at the same time there are many other industries that have asked for help to cany out defence orders in this State, for subsidies and for investigation, but whose requests have been brnshed aside by one sweep of the hand. The Pederal Govern­ment's only desire is to make Queensland a purely primary-producing State.

~1uch has been said about the buoyancy of employment and the low figure of unemploy­ment in this State. I agree that unemploy· ment has reached a low figure, that things ar0 booming, in the metropolitan areas and indnstrial centres in particular.

}lr. Nimmo: Only because of Common­'"cnlth expenditure. You know that.

lUr. RIORDAN: I do not want to be interrupted hy the hon. gentleman's inane and stupid interjections.

Jlir. Barnes: There is nothing stupid al1out interjections.

)fr. RIORDAJ'i': Let the hon. member for Bundaherg· make his OiYn speech. He is not game to make one.

I desire to point ont some instances in which T think the far North of Queensland in particular has been neglected. Country districts of the State are being denuded of young men through enlistments. ·when we see that 2,800 young men between the ages of 21 and 35 years have enlisted from Cairns alone \Ye realise just how the country dis­tricts are being denuded of their young men. In addition, we find that the N orthem parts of the State and the various country areas have le<l in their purchases of war-savings certificates, which in turn has had its effect upon the financial position of the business people in those areas. \\'hen we see that almost £-1,000,000 has been taken out of the State by way of war-savings certificates-and these are virtually the earnings of workers in industTy-we must recognise that the country districts have been seriously affected. I know that the Northern business people are feeling the pinch much more than any other scdion of the community. I refer in par­ticular to the sugar-growing belt. After five or six months' employment in the sugar indus­trv the men are more or less at a dead end. ll something is not done to keep them employer} in the district during the slack season those men iYill gradually drift to the metropolitnn and industrial areas where con­ditions of living are much better. They will make their homes there, and the result will he that not only the poorer primarv indus­tries but also the eanegrowing industry, which offers greater inducements, will be short of labour. I nrge that something shonlrl he done for those men who are left idle dnring the slack period in the sugar industry. Some work shoulcl be done during that period.

::IIr. iUacuonahl: Cotton-growing?

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132 Address in Reply. [ASSEMBLY.] Address in Reply.

Jir. RIORDAN: There are great possi­bilities for cotton-growing in North Queens­l:md, and the hon. member for Stanley knows that in the Lower Burdekin area vast tracts of land have been cleared, and, with irriga­tion, eYerything points to the successful growing of cotton. I said in this House on a previous occasion that to grow cotton suc­cessfully in that area we must have men who are willing to grow it by itself and not as a subsidiary crop to sugar. There is no induce­ment for the sugar-grower to grow cotton. In the Home Hill district water for irrigation is plentiful but a man growing cotton is at a disaclYantage because of the charges under the lnkerman irrigation scheme. It is possible for a man to produce sugar-cane at the existing w'lter charges, but the rate is too high for anyone to go in successfully for cotton- or potato-growing. The sugar­grower is able to grow his crop successfully nnd profitably. I suggested in this Chamber 0uce before that the men left idle during the slack season might be put to work on main roads. I am one who has a grouch against the -:\Iain Hoads Commission, particr1larly as to its operations in my electorate. I hasten to sav that the Commissioner is a man who has c1one wonderful work in Queensland. I believe that Mr. Kemp is our premier public sc·rvant, but I think that he has too much work to do to-day.

Opposition 1\'Iembers: Hear, hear!

lUr. RIORDAN: I can say candidly and frankly that during the years before the war, when Mr. Kemp had his own job only to clo, there was not a creek, rivulet, or main n,ad or branch road in the whole of Queens­land that he did not know. He knew the formation of all our roads, he knew where the crossings were.

:'\Ir. ('layton: He knew every bridge.

;llr. RIORDAN: There was not a man who knew his job better. But I am not satisfied with the work that the Main Hoads Commission has done in my area. IIon mem­bers of the Opposition who took part in the Bo,en by-election saw the conditions of the roads in that district. It was raining heavily at the time, and many of them were impassable. I say that with a few excep­tions little has been done in my electorate since that time. On one occasion it was breught to my notice that an official of the Commission said that 1\fr. Riordan was not mindful of the fact that Bowen was only a small part of Queensland. J\Ir. Rior'dan pointed out to that public servant that he was mvare of that fact; he was also mindful of the fact that Bowen is one of the oldest settled districts in Queensland, almost the olrlest 1vith the exeeption of the Brisbane area, and the roads would make Snake Gully snbmbs look cheap and paltry. The offieer who 1vrote me that letter said that most of the main roads gazettecl in the Bowen area had been completed; my reply is that it is time more were gazettccl. T am not blaming Mr. Kemp because I believe he has too mueh work to do. I think he could suc­cessfully do two or three jobs, but to give him more than three would be placing an

undue burden on him, giving him a bigger share of the work to be carried out by officers of the State. 'l'here are not many who could do it as well as he can. Recently another big job vvas placed upon the shoulders of Mr. Kernp, that of director of munition-manu­f2cturing in this eountry.

Something will have to be done, especially in the sugar districts, if we are going to develop and protect that part of the State. If nothing is done for the people, especially during the slack season, we are going to lose many people from those areas. We do not want to see North Queensland depleted of its population, and I say that for many reasons. It is highly desirable that the northern part of the State should be adequately protected. It has been said, not officially, but in conversa­tion, by people who ought to know, people outside Government circles, ''\Nhat is the use of building the Burdekin River Bridge for defence purposes when for strategic reasons we may have to abandon North Queensland and destroy all its bridges'?'' That is poor consolation for the people who have to live in the far northern parts of the State.

An Opposition lliember interjected.

3Ir. RIORDAN: If I were as bad as the hon. member I should not be here. I am Teplying to the hon. member who made that inane interjection, whoever he was.

1\'Ir. Barnes: Why are you looking at me?

Mr. RIORDAN: I am looking at the other side of the Chamber, and that is enough for me.

;J'Ir. Edwards: You are making a good speech.

:Jlir. RIORDAN: I always make a good speech. If the hon. member will continue to listen to me, he will probably hear me make a better speech and tell him something else that is interesting. The Burdekin River Bridge is a vital necessity clming this period of war. (Hear, hear!) If Queensland comes into its own, as it must, then the Burdekin Hiver Bridge will be essential. It is required to-dav because if there are a fmv inches of rain 'in vV est em Queensland, at the back of Charters To·wers, or over the great watershed of the Burclekin River, the river is flooded, and it does not require to-day half the rainfall of 10 years ago to flood the Burdckin Hiver.

1\'fr. )facdonald: Hear, hear!

lUr. R.IORDAN: Anyone who knows any-· thing about the Burdekin River-the hon. member for Stanley can bear me out-realises that it is silting up fast. \'\'1wreas 10 years ago a certain rainfall would bring the water to the level of the bridge, to-clay the same rainfall creates a flood 6 feet or 7 feet over the bridge. The last flood, which virtually was the result of onl~" local rains, washed the bridge away and railway traffic was inter­rupted for four or five months. For at least 8 or 10 weeks each year on an nverage traffic is held up at the Bunlekin Hiver on account of floods. Produce is destroyed because it is taken to the river and has to be shifted about. Traffic generally is held up and

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Address in Reply. [28 AuGusT.] Address in Reply. 133

a disgraceful state of affairs exists. The Commonwealth Government should have interested themselves in co-operation with the State in the construction of this bridge for defence purposes, and with the object of doing something to protect the North. I say quite candidly that the bridge should have been built long ago, and that steps should be taken now to ensure its construction. I know that the bridge will cost a colossal sum to build, but the Commonwealth Government should realise their responsibilities in the matter. It may not bf economically possible for the State to undertake its construction just now, but some­one should help the State Government in the matter, and particularly does that apply to the Commonwealth Government, wllo should help in its construction for defence purposes.

The Premier: It was submiHed as a defence work to the Commonwealth authori­ties shortly after the outbreak of war.

1Ir. RIORDAN: I am pleased that the Premier interjected that his Government had put the building of a new high-level bridge over the Burdekin River before the Commonwealth as a defence project. I am quite convinced that the Federal Government should either undertake the construction of that bridge as a defence project or give some assistance to the State to build it, on a~count of its defence Yalne.

The Premier: They are finding money for the rebuilding of the Hawkcsbury Bridge.

~Ir. RIORDAN: That goes to show that the statements made from time to time that the Commonwealth Government are only con­cerned about the defence of the part of ouT coastline that runs from Newcastle south­>Ya·rds and embraces all the munition works of the Broken Hill Proprietary Company and subsidiary organisations are correct. I will not go so far as to say that it makes one wonder why something has not been done by the Commonwealth in the northern part of this State. When one sees that the Hawkes­bury BTidge is regarded as being of such importance that the Commonwealth Govern­ment are willing to spend money to rebuild it, although it has presented no difficulties in tl.w pas~ with respect to flooding, while a brg sectron of people in North Queensland ha Ye their business dislocatel1 for 8 or 10 weeks every year, one must aTrivo at the conclusion that the Commonwealth Govern­ment are concerned only with the part of the countTY. with the greatest aggregation of populatron.

1\'Ir. JUacdonald: The bridge should be constructed at the Tocks.

lUr. ~JORDAN: I am not going to say where rt should be constructed; that is a matteT for inYestigation by experts. The bridge is necessaTy and specifications should be prermrod because people in North Queens­land are entitled to consideTation to the extent of the rebuilding of that bridge. That is the duty of the Commonwealth.

Mr. Luckins: Is it a railway bridge?

3Ir. RIORDAN: Of course it is. What soTt of bridge does the hon. member think it is 'I Does he think it is a pontoon~

1\'Ir. Luckins: A bridge of sighs.

Mr. RIORDAN: I am glad the hon. membeT made that inteTjection. TheTe is no tTaffic bridge over the Bmdekin. As a result of the flooding of the Burdekin trans· port outside of railway transport is held up from 18 to 20 weeks each year. A new bTidge should serve the dual purpose of the Railway Department and road transport.

'l'here are many industries in North Queens­land that should be deYeloped in war-time. Recently there has been a strong agitation, particuhnly from the Bowen district, for the construction of electrolytic-copper refining works at Bowen. No place is more suited than Bowen for the establishment of those works. I naturally say so because, without being parochial, there is no centre that has greater potentialities than Bowen and dis­tTict. ~Within 60 miles of Bo>Yen there is one of the finest coal deposits in A11stralia. Out­side of the Newcastle coalfield Bowen's coal stanr1s unequalled. 'l'hc BD"\\ en Harbour is one of the finest in the State.

li'Ir. Edwards: How does it compare with l\fackay?

:ilfr. R.IORDAN: As a harbour it would make Mackay look small. It is a much better harbour than Mackay, but the Mackay Har­bour, criticised so much by hon. members opposite, >ras the only facility required to make that district a success. Bowen could not Yery well get it, because if the harbour had not been established at J\Iackay it would have gone to Port Newry. People who have not left the southern portion of Queensland cannot be expected to know where Mackay or Port Newry is. Many of them have only been in the Bowen electorate during a by-elec­tion; otherwise they would not have been there.

An Opposition lliember: It produces good mangoes.

lUr. RIORDAN: There are other things besides mangoes that come from there. As I was pointing out, we have one of the finest harbours in Australia. It is a natural harbour with plenty of depth at a place where, away back in 1920, when Mr. Theodore was Premier, they proposed to build an iron and steel works. You all know the sad and ugly story of the establishment of the Bowen iron and steel works.

An Opposition Member: What happened?

llir. RIORDAN: I will tell you. Shortly before the time Mr. TheodOTe intended borrow­ing the money-some £3,000,000, for the iron and steel works at Bowen-an agitation was set afoot by vested interests to stop him from getting the money for that project.

A Government l\[ember: Representatives of the other side.

Mr. RIORDAN: Representatives of the other side sent a delegation overseas for the purpose of hindering Mr. Theodore from

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134 Address in Reply. [ASSEMBLY.] Questions.

getting the money. Mr. Theodore went to England to get the money for the purpose of establishing iron and steel works at Bowen, but it was refused because the project was to be one for the manufacture of iron and steel in North Queensland. The Broken Hill Proprietary Company was starting in southern Australia and was particularly interested that nothing should be done in North Queensland. There was a gentleman by the name of Delpratt, a high official in the Broken Hill Proprietary Company, who gave evidence before the royal commission that was investi­gating the possibilities for the establishment of iron and steel works at Bowen. ::VIr. Delpratt said that not only was it possible to establish iron and steel works in Bowen, but it was very desirable. At the same time he pointed out that there were iron deposits, particularly in the southern portions of A ustntlia, that would be ma'tle available to the Queensland Government if they established an iron and steel works. Mr. Theodore was in the unhappy position that he could not get the money because pressure had been brought to bear on certain financial institutions, and instead of having a population between Mackay and To\vnsville to-day of some 40,000 or 50,000 we have a population of about 10,000. ·would it not have been a grand thing to have that iron and steel works established to-day when the country is crying out for steel, especially when this State has rich resources at the back door of Bowen, sucl1 as coal and coke, which are essential in the production of iron and steel~ This enter­prise was stopped because the financial insti-1utions of this and vthcr countries di\1 not want iron and steel works established any­where in Queenslm1d. Because of that fact Queensland was robbed of a national industry; it was robbed of its heritage because people who had vested interests in other parts of the State. and elsewhere in the world, were more concerned with the making of profits than the welfare of Queensland. It is regrettable to hear people ruiming down this State, which, having greater potentialities than any other Rtate in the Commonwealth, could become a great mannfacturing as well as a primary­producing State. Nevertheless, we find little Queenslanders deriding the State. The only thing they can find to talk on is an alleged tax ,bv the Australian Workers' Union and other ·trade unions.

lUr. Barnes: What have the Queensland Government done 9

lUr. RIORDAN: They have done a great deal for the advancement of Queensland. The hon. member knows that well. He hns an obsession on one particular subject thnt has brought him up against the Labour Govern­ment of the State. I can remember con­versing with him when he was loud in his praises of this Labour Government.

~Ir. Bal'lles: I object.

Mr. SPEAKER: Order!

~Ir. RIORDAN: I can remember talking "lvith him when he was loud in his praises of this Labour Government of which he has so meeh to say no\v. I could go on for a week.

j1lr. BAUNES: I rise to a point of order! I ask that that statement be withdrawn. I never made that statement in my life. If I did I was absolutely unconscious.

lUr. SPEAKER: Order!

lUr. RIORDAN: Since there 1Yil! be a further opportunity of discussing the possi­bilities of ancl the development of the State in the post-war period, I am sorry I cannot proceed to explain those possibilities and the results of the findings of the royal commission. At a later time it is my intention to bring before the House-and I hope those who say they have the ear and the sympathies of the Federal Government will bring it before that Government-the desirability of establishing iron anl steel works in the north of Queens­land despite the opposition from the money­bags in the Commonwealth.

Debate, on motion of Mr. Larcombe, adjourned.

The House adjomncd at 4.13 p.m.