Evening star., 1950-01-19
The Upset Down Under-No. a
Australian Loborites Watching
ToSee woes Wipe Out Reds


of the late labor government wht
first tried to kill Communists with
kindness, finally tried toughness
and failed with both.
One day when Sydney's lates
dock strike was getting well under
way. and seemed to be shaping ur
as the Communists challenge tx
the new Liberal Country party
government of Prime Minister
Robert G. Menzies, was in the
Sydney Office of leading figure
in the late labor government.
On his desk was newspaper
with black banner lines reading
"56 Ships Now Idle Here-40, ,000,.
900 Pounds Cargo Tied Up
Strike Spreading"
Prosperity Masks Problems.
This man, who was tearing hi!
hair six months ago trying to enc
Australia's big Communist-lee
coal strike, raped his knuckle!
on the headlines.
"Menzies thinks it's going tx
be so simple to stop these strikes,
he snorted. He'll just OUTLAW
Communists, and make it illega
for them to hold union office
That will stop the trouble.
"Well-that's his baby! Now
let's see him wash it,"
Many of Australia's gravest
problems have been masked. tenn.
porarily, behind the surface ap.
pearance Of prosperity created BY
the postwar boom in wool anc
wheat prices.
Everybody has a job, and every
factory, office and farm is crying
for more help. Wages are the bes1
in Australia's history, and hour.
the shortest.
But Australia's voters have dis.
covered, their votes seem to show
that full employment and gooc
wages do not necessarily add up tx
real prosperity.
It's not hard to see why, talk.
ing to Australian people.
what kind of prosperity is this
anyway" says a young ex.
service man, clerk In a Sydney
hardware store, who lives with hi
wife and 2-year-old daughter ir
a four-room fiat with her par
ents.
We've all got jobs, and We
haven't got houses. We get more
money but 1t doesn't buy the
things we want.
Unable to Get Bricks.
''If we try to build a house, We
can't get bricks because there ISM
enough coal to make them. The
farmer can't buy a plow because
there's not enough steel. If you gel
car, you can't get gasoline be.
cause the labor government
thought we shouldn't have it.
"And how long will we have
money when the bubble goes out
of the wool market?"
His views, apparently shared by
a majority of Australia's voters
brought the downfall of the Labor
government of Prime Minister 10.
seph B. Chif1ey. And they point di
rectly at the deep seated problem!
which the new free-enteprise re.
gime inherits.
Australia's socialization of in.
dustry has not approached the
sweeping scale of Britain's ma.
tionalizatiors. Labor's efforts tx
set up government monopolies Of
banks, airlines, shipping and Goa
mining have. been frustrated by
the Constitution and the High
Court.
But the new government mus
unscramble the affairs of the Aus.
tralian Shipping Board, which hae
lost 10,188, ,720 pounds (about $22,.
000,00O in the last four years
trying to run shipping lines.
Airlines Sets Subsidy.
1t must deal with Trans-Aus.
tralian Airlines, created to take
over all air lines, but now limited
to competing with private line.
with the advantage Of an annua
subsidy of 100000 pounds (about
1,50o, o,00o).
It must take over management
of the governments huge collec.
tive farm in Northern Queensland
designed Of boost the production o1
sorghum as q food for pigs. With
the help Of q fleet of 80 tractors
80 headers and 80 combines that
private growers cannot buy, it ha.
managed to raise 300, 900 busAel.
Of sorghum where 100000 grew
before.
There is also the problem of tn,
government payroll, which ha,
grown until the government nov
employs 635, 400 people, more thar
one-fourth of all employed work
ers In the commonwealth. Their,
is a maze and restrictions ant
controls through which the stats
has sought to effect its planned
economy.
There is a sticky problem o.
states rights" Australia's 81,
states, as jealous of their rights al
Georgia ever was, have seen NOR,
and more of their powers gathered
into the central hands of Can
berra, the federal capital.
They boil. especially, becaus'
the Labor government took owe
the right to levy income taxes
and then bargained with eacl
state over the amount to be re-
mitted for state purposes.
Decentralization Is Issue.
Decentralization" Is q burnin,