Frank Fox

“ Australia in the World War.—The gallant deeds of the Australian naval and military forces in the World War cannot be separated conveniently from the general history of the campaign, and there will be noted here only the political and civil developments. Australia entered the war with an enthusiasm of patriotism which obscured for a time any open sign of the fact that there was a section of the population which reflected closely the opinions of the Irish Nationalist party. ”

“ The backwardness of the Territory as compared with the rest of Australia is due chiefly to political causes. When the Australian colonies first set up separate households it was convenient to none of them to include the Territory, and it was left in the hands of the Imperial Government. In 1863 South Australia took over the responsibility for the Territory, intending to connect it with Adelaide by a north-to-south trans-continental railway. With such a railway it would have been brought within the ambit of South Australian development. ”

“ But war conditions affected very seriously the transport by sea of Australia's exports and, though relief to one class of producers came through the action of the British Government in buying for a number of years the whole wool crop in Australia, irrespective of when it could be shipped to Europe, there grew up the idea that the Commonwealth did not get as good shipping facilities as if she had her own Government-owned lines. ”

“ The Australian constitution, as interpreted by the High Court, remains a barrier against any great development of socialistic enterprise on the part of the Commonwealth Government. In its working the Australian constitution has proved the most conservative instrument of Government within the British Empire.
Industrial Disputes.—Australia has elaborate machinery in Commonwealth and state Arbitration Courts for the settlement of industrial disputes without strikes. But strikes are very frequent and do grave damage to the development of the country. ”

“ Whilst British industry was to a large extent paralyzed, the United States and British possessions captured a bigger share of the Australian markets. But a slight (very slight) decline in British imports was noticeable before the war and after the granting of a preferential tariff. It is hardly reasonable to expect that British imports will ever go back fully to their old position in the Australian market. Australian exports to the United Kingdom showed a dwindling proportion of the total before the war. ”

“ Population.—Public opinion in Australia has at different times condemned as unsatisfactory the rate of growth of the population both by natural increase and by immigration. The feeling that the natural increase of the population was not sufficient led in New South Wales to the appointment of the Birth Rate Royal Commission (1903) . ”

“ Australia is making a vigorous effort also to encourage the woollen textile industry, and there is mooted a project to give Federal Government assistance to raise a capital of £14,000,000 for textile mills. Easily accessible coal on the mainland and excellent water-power in Tasmania favour manufacturing development, and in many great industries the cost of labour in the Commonwealth is now less than in Great Britain. British manufacturers are in some notable cases establishing branch factories in Australia.
Forests and fisheries bring an amount of £7,000,000 to the Australian purse. ”

“ There is said to be mineral wealth, but mining results in the past have usually been disappointing. In its policy of development the Australian Government does not propose to allow any further complete alienation of Crown lands. All titles will be leasehold, but the leases will be in perpetuity, with reappraisement of rent every 14 years in the case of town lands, every 21 years in the case of agricultural and pastoral lands. Up to the present the Northern Territory has not proved a profitable acquisition for the Commonwealth. ”

“ The Australian Government vetoed the proposal. In 1918, however, a Native Taxes Ordinance was passed authorizing a tax not exceeding £1 per head on all natives except those in Government employ, or unfit for work, or having four or more living children. The proceeds of the tax will be applied to the benefit of the natives; its effect is designed to stimulate industry on their part. In 1919 about 13,000 natives were engaged in some form of contract labour. The Native Labour Ordinances safeguard strictly the interests of the native workers. ”

“ The Commonwealth adopted a policy of Government-owned shipping and of close control of private shipping. Up to 1912 Australia was content with navigation laws which sought to keep Australian coastal trade as much as possible for Australian ships, and insisted that all ships engaging in Australian coastal trade should observe Australian conditions in regard to wages, etc. Some very flourishing coastal shipping companies existed under these conditions. ”

“ In the beginning of Australian colonization state-aided immigration brought a great influx of people to Australia who otherwise would never have been able to afford the expenses of the long journey from Europe. Since 1906 the policy of state-aided immigration has been reëstablished in Australia, and was afterwards, though interrupted by the war, revived under Commonwealth direction. ”

“ No state has benefited more from the Union, the effect of which tends to group most of the great industries of the Commonwealth around the New South Wales coal-fields. A recent development of great importance was the foundation of steel manufacture at Newcastle.
Besides Sydney (the greatest port of Australia and the chief entrepôt for the American, the Asiatic and the Pacific trade) , New South Wales has notable cities in Newcastle—the centre of the coal-mining industry—Broken Hill, a great silver, zinc and lead-mining town in the far W. of the state ”

“ Mining keeps up a steady contribution to the national prosperity, £23,000,000 in 1909, £26,000,000 in 1918. Gold production lately has been of decreasing, silver and copper of increasing importance. Coal has improved both in quantity raised and in price realized.
The manufacturing industries of Australia progress with each year, and it is clear that the British and American manufacturer must reckon on strong Australian competition in Pacific markets. ”

“ The number from each state varies with the growth of population. The Australian Parliament can only act within the powers set forth in the constitution. The High Court is the final interpreter of that constitution and may veto any legislation, either of the states or of the Commonwealth, which is ultra vires. ”

“ A Staff College in the Federal Territory is provided for the training of officers, and its organization is on severely practical lines. Cadets are accepted after examination. The whole cost of their college training is borne by the army estimates, and parents are forbidden to supplement the messing allowance by private pocket-money. Even railway fares to and from the college when cadets go on holiday leave are paid by the Government, as are also all costs of uniform and equipment. A severe but not unwholesome discipline is exacted ”

“ That desire survives in some quarters, and is still a force to be reckoned with in a country where the Labour voters have the controlling power in politics. But it is being recognized, by Labour leaders as well as others, that a great access of population is necessary to the safety of the country and need not affect the general prosperity of a continent which has a little over 5,000,000, and has room, at a low estimate, for 100,000,000 people. ”

“ He wanted from Germany a full indemnity covering all war costs. He objected to any authority being granted to the League of Nations over ex-German territories in the Pacific which, he contended, should be straightforwardly annexed to Australia. Curiously enough, in this attitude Mr. Hughes was much more vigorously supported by a section of the British public than by his Australian constituents. ”

“ The system follows that of Great Britain exactly except that all expenses of the cadets are met by the Commonwealth Government and parents pay no fees. There is also a training-ship at Sydney for the training of other ranks. The Australian navy is in charge, for the Empire, of the S. Pacific naval station. It has a fleet of 30 surface warships headed by the battle cruiser "Australia," six submarines, and various auxiliaries.
Australia's defence expenditure (naval and military) in 1905 was less than £1,000,000. ”

“ The death-rate from all causes in 1919 was 12·8. It is the lowest death-rate in the world except one. Lately there has been a betterment in regard to the infantile death-rate, which the hot summers ruling over the greater part of the Commonwealth make the chief cause of public health anxiety. ”

“ It was proposed in 1908 that the Papuan should be forced to do a certain amount of work, either for himself, for private planters, or for the Government, the argument being advanced that since nature was so bountiful as to keep him in reasonable comfort without, work, he would never be driven to labour by necessity, and must, therefore, be brought under some other form of compulsion. ”

“ Public Health.—Though part of Australia is within the tropics there is practically no tropical disease, and there is an absence also of small-pox, hydrophobia and other diseases which are known in some parts of Europe. ”

“ British ships were 73·53% of the total in 1913 and 78·90% in 1918–9. Two ports of Australia, Sydney and Melbourne, exceed in shipping tonnage entered the figures for all British ports except London and Liverpool.
Finance (Public) .—The Commonwealth Government, which at its inception had a share of the customs and excise as its only great source of taxation, now collects customs and excise, land tax, probate duties, income tax, entertainments tax and special war taxes. Its revenue from taxation and from services was £21,741,000 in 1913–4 and £44,716,918 in 1918–9. ”

“ Since Federation the pop. increased from 1,197,206 to 1,495,938 (1919) . State-aided immigration was reestablished in 1908 and a vigorous policy of closer settlement has been adopted. Before the Union Victoria had established by a high protective tariff a lead in the manufacturing industries. That lead has now passed to New South Wales. Victoria is, however, developing with energy her agricultural interests, and has lately made good progress with intensive fruit-growing on the banks of the river Murray. The area under all crops in 1919 was 3,942,000 acres. ”

“ In the case of the artillery and the engineers the training extends to 25 days a year, of which not less than 17 must be in camp. There are certain exceptions, including one making provision for those who have conscientious scruples against bearing arms; these however are trained for the hospital and ambulance services. The thinness of the population in some districts forces another class of exemption; the residents of the far "Outback" cannot be economically mobilized for training, and for the present are left out of the scheme. ”

“ A new source of wealth now being developed is that of the production of electricity from water-power. A great industrial future is promised from the utilization of the Great Lake water-power, and there has been talk even of carrying electric power by cables across to the mainland. ”

“ In accordance with these returns New South Wales would gain an extra seat in the House of Representatives, and Victoria lose one.
Social Conditions.—The Australian people are almost wholly British in character; 97·54% of the total are of British origin, 1·21% come from foreign European countries and 1·16% from foreign non-European countries. The average standard of education is high and illiteracy almost unknown. The wage rate is generally high. The cost of living in Australia compares well with the cost in most civilized countries. In 1911 the statistician to the Commonwealth Government, Mr. ”