Evening star., 1925-07-12
FARMERS SUFFER
UNDER LABOR RULE
Queensland in Past 10 Years
Has Shown SCant Growth
in Agriculture.
Correspondence OF The Star and New Yoss


Correspondence OF The Star and New Yose
World
BRISBANE, Queensland, June g.
For 10 years labor has been ruling the
state of Queensland For 6 of those
10 years it has been under the rule
of a single man, Edward c.. Theodore.
who has only recently resigned his
powers to enter federal politics
In those 10 years labor has neither
ruined the land nor built a fabric
Utopia. 1t has bettered the condition
of the city worker at the expense Of
business and in part of the country
man. But on the whole Queensland
Is much Ike any other part Of Aus
tralfa--quite prosperous, reasonably
contented and fearful Of the japanese.
Like Other Towns.
The broad streets of Brisbane, lined
with palms and flower gardens and
handsome buildings, or pleasant cot
tages, are much like the streets Of
other towns. There is no indication
Of a ruinous Labor policy in the outer
aspect of the city, nor is it perhaps to
Labor's credit that nature has been
kind to Brisbane.
that decade of Labor rule can be
seen. The free spender of the other
Australian cities is the man from the
country, fresh from a year of isola-
ton on the farm or the sheep station,
and eager for relaxation He is not
SO numerous in Brisbane, but the
workmen Of the city are to a large
extent taking his place.
The policy Of Australian labor, as
cNl iy rThnlInra i- syfr
class legislation and the trade union
ist of the Labor party does not re-
gard the farmer as in his class. For
the years Queensland legislat ton has
been primarily in the interest Of the
city worker. A long string Of State
enterprises, some successful and
some not. have been undertaken for
his benefit, but nothing has been done
for the primary producer
One result is that Queensland. the
state with the greatest possibilities
in agriculture, has practically no
more land under cultivation now than
she did TO years ago. This, however.
IS partly because the Labor govern
ment exercises more discrimination
in admitting immigrants and does not
offer them as many advantages as
some of the other states afford.
The man who has made Queensland
what il is politically. also has made
himself. Theodore is today only II.
but he has more Parliamentary ex-
perience behind him than many
politicians acquire in a lifetime At
II he ended his formal education and
went TO work as a breaker boy in
coal mine. By the time he was
tull grown he was taking an active
part in the affairs of his union.
Sixteen years ago he was elected
to the Queensland Parliament and
never has been defeated since. al
though labor was not very strong
during the first few years of his
political career. In 1915 he was
deputy leader of the party and labor
was swept into office. Theodore served
under Premier Ryan as minister Of
the treasury and public works until
his chief retired in 1919.
Abolished Upper House.
Theodore succeeded to the premier
ship and at once began 10 force
through the most far-reaching labor
program that had ever been at
tempted. He found the upper house
of the state Parliament which Labor
did not control, in his way. so he
abolished 1t by amending the state
constitution. Then he found that the
English owners of certain big lease
holds We're taking tremendous profits
from the land which they held as
absentee landlords while paying only
nominal rental to the states. The
Labor Parliament practically abro-
gated their leases by raising the rent
and then fought the case successfully
through the courts.
Theodore was SO heartily disliked
by British business interests that
when he went TO England TO nego-
tiate a loan shortly after the lease
hold incident he could not get it
under any circumstances. So he
went to New York instead and there
got the money at a lower rate of
interest than he would have been
willing to pay in England.
These actions are typical of the
way in which Theodore, as head Of
the Queensland Labor Party and as
the next head of the Federal Labor
Party, pursues his ends. If the con
stitution and the precedents are
against him he proposes to change
them. 1t is the only way, he SAYS,
TO obtain Labor's ultimate aim
specialization of industry.
This already has progressed rather
far under his regime in Queensland,
but it has not proved an unadulterat-
ed success. Labor men say this is
because the specialization was not ma
tion-wide; that state enterprises in
Queensland had to meet Cut-throat
competition from private industries in
other states.
However, the party has not de
SPARED The railways, telegraphs and
i telephones are state operated and
owned, as they are all over Australia.
The public utilities in the cities are
the same. but neither is peculiar
to Queensland.
State Cattle Ranches.
However. state cattle ranches. state
packing houses and state butcher
shops were rather a new departure.
The labor government inaugurated
them to bring down the prices of meat
| and for a time the state butcher shops
were selling their product at a lower
| price than private shops and We're
making a profit besides. But the state
packers were paying less to the ranch
ers and the state cattle stations were
| not a success, so the cattle owners
were able to combine and, by eliminat-
! ing the middlemen, undercut the state
| shops. However, though the state
shops and packing plants began to
| lose money, their object had been
achieved, for the price of meat to the
consumer had come down.
The state was less fortunate In its
dairying ventures. The price of but
fer for example. was fixed for all