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WAR AND INDUSTRY
MINISTER CRITICISED.
Warning to Employers.
SYDNEY, Aug 6.-Many of the
difficulties confronting the business
community arose from the almost
total eclipse of any Federal depart
mental co-ordination, said the pres
ident (Mr H. J. Hendy) at the an
nual meeting of the Chamber of
Manufactures of New South Wales
today. Waste and duplicated effort
were rampant. The Government, he
suggested, should be more frank
with the community. "We must win
this war," said Mr Hendy. "All
that is necessary for us to do, pay
or suffer must be done. At the same
time it does not mean that every
bright opportunistic idea thought
up by a militant trade unlonist, an
academic theorist or a party politic
ian of whatever colour, and turned
overnight into an ill-considered, ill
digested and ill-timed regulation,
bears any necessity at all to the
pursuit of that objective. Therefore
I say to all manufacturers that
while bending every ounce of time
and effort into a war-winning cam
paign, they make no mistake about
their own unity. If we are not
watchful a political transition now
going on before our eyes will find
us, through default, acquiescing in
the destruction of the very things
we are fighting to preserve.
"A Minister charged with the ad
ministration of a department the
decisions of which affect the very
existence of many idustrial units in
Australia urges publicly the reorg
anisation of industry with the elim
Ination of profit and interest. When,
may I ask, did the electors of Aus
tralia direct the present Government
to eliminate profit from Industry?
If that Minister were expressing
Government policy and not his Own
personal views, why does not the
Government be frank and tell .us?
If he were expressing only his bwn
t theories why is a Minister hold
these views allowed to continue
reorganising industry in the name
of the Government? Shall we be
far from the mark if we say that
it certainly looks like an attempt
to impose on us a new economic
order under the guise of wartime
necessity."
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