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THE PROBLEMS OP AUSTRALIA.
1 Speaking in legartl to the national
I problems which confront Australia at
tho present time, Mr Taylor stated that
I some of tkam called for not merely local
I effort, but for a leally national effort
lit was necessary to »ind sound and last
I ing .solutions, and the straining ot cvcrj
nerve of effort on the part of Govern
monta, the commercial community, the
worker, and the people generally, in
order to work out the solutions when
found The primar-, problem my nation
sooner or later was compelled to sohe
was beyond question its own security
and suftty Mr Colvin, in his excellent
little book, "The Safety of the Nation,"
said. "If a nation lives altogether upon
the production of raw inattiial, its tam
moree will be m the hands of foreign
nations, and it will bo divided and weak
If i nation live partly by production and
partly by commerce, she will be united
and strong If her commerce depends
upon her production, but sht will be
divided and weak if hei commerce is in
conflict with her production If, on the
contrary, a nation uses its raw materials
in its own manufactures, the commerce
of the country will then depend upon
its production, its surplus will then be
, exported In exchange for those things
which it cannot produce, and its re
sources will be used to the highest
I power of support and sequTit} "
i "Here, then," continued Mr Taj lor,
"we are supplied with a solution of the
first and greatest problem which can
fronts us -to-daj, namely, the use of our
own raw matoriala in our manufactures,
and the exporting of our surplus in ex-
change for those things we cannot pro-
duct Perhaps our next greatest prob-
lem is 'the poopltng of our empty idle
land Thoro arc two ways of solving
this problem, and, as far ad I know, onlj,
two satisfactory wavs, viz -(a) Tu
bring to our country men of our own
I blood to develop our primary pxodne
ition, (b) to bring to our country men of
|our own blood to dovtlop our manufac-
tures To develop our manufacture»-to
! turn our own raw inntcrials into the
things we need-means wo shall leap a
double harvest in value We can not
onlj attract our own tountry men to lill
our Waste spaces, but we can equally
well attract manufacturer«- and skilled
operatives of our own blood, whose tech
meal knowledge will lav the foundations
of skill and tfficlencj in those indus-
tries of which we are in sole need, and
m which, up to the present, ire lack iv
penence "
In icgaid to prohtabh employment
for Australian» and the new settlers, Mr
Taj lor said A further pressing problem
is to find employment for the worker«
already hort and who at preaont aro mi
absorbed by Industry, «and also find em
Iployment for those new settlers who
i have m the Old Country been brought
I up to a trade, and who shortly »ftor an
i experience "on the land," for which they
an unsuited, almost invariably dnit
back to cit> life and city conditions The
extension of manufacture is the only
sound method bv which atleli labour can
I be economically absorbed
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