i:\rki-.\( II M I XT M|.- iNDisiKN. _:;4i) 



and has piTuiaiiciitl}- a(lo])l(.'(l rnUcclioii, willi llic result that 

 Australia has developed her niaiuit'actures to an astonishing 

 (let^ree. Her need was, as ours is to-day, more i)0])ulation, but 

 she could not attract settlers unless she had emplo\ment to 

 otter them. She realised that foreign manufacturers were f^row- 

 in,ij fat on the working- up of the raw products she shi])ped over- 

 seas. t(^ he sidd again to her in altered form loaded up with 

 heavy cost i^\ douhle trans])ort and high prdils. W'hv could 

 she not do the wDrk herself, and build herself up as a nation, 

 affording eni])loyment to her own ])eo})le, attracting other skilled 

 workers, and enriching the State coffers? That was the Com- 

 monwealth's task, and it is the (tne that confronts South Africa 

 to-day. Too long have we been content to see the golden treas- 

 ures from our mines leave these shores. That rich stream 

 should pulse through the arteries of a vigorous internal industrial 

 system. Unless we realise (jur i)osition we shall bleed to death. 

 The stores of gold which Nature has l)ountifully j)rovide(l to 

 gnve us a start as a natitMi will be all s(|uandere(l long before 

 we have reached the stage of being self-su]jporting. We nuist 

 make a strong effort to kee]) the money circulating more and 

 more in South .\frica, and divert it from the purchase of luxuries 

 abroad towards the estal)lishnient of manufactures and indus- 

 tries which will ensure for tts lasting national prosperity. Is 

 this opportunity to be utilised, or is the merchant, who laughs at 

 Technical education and the laborious work both of mind and 

 bod}' which maiutfacturing entails, to have it all his own wav, 

 and this country, after the exhaustion of its mineral wealth, to 

 sink back into jtrimitive conditions, with the submergence or 

 absor])tion of the white race by the black? If historv demon- 

 strates anything, it is that manufacttires bring wealth, and that 

 a State whose prosperit\- is ])uilt merely upon mining and dis- 

 tribution, unbacked by agriculture and mauufactures, is bound 

 in time to be tripped up and left with no resources. 



A favourite argument, levelled by the Free Traders, is that 

 T'rotection leads to the formation of trtists which artificially 

 raise ])rices. Once uixm a time this objection would have been 

 immediately fatal. The mere mention of the word "trust" was 

 enough to reduce the n-!( st lively economic reft)rmer to impo- 

 tence. l-'\en yet the word has some i)ower o\er tho>e who do 

 not look Ijelow the surface of things. But the war has taught 

 us to face the realities of trade, and one of these realities is 

 that combinations of some sort are inevitable in modern industry. 

 They exist everyw'here. They control almost every commodity 

 in general use: coal, iron and steel, meat, grain, transport ser- 

 vices, ty])ewriters, oils, chemicals of various kinds — a long and 

 miscellaneous catalogue. What we want to guard against is that 

 we should not be placed at the mercy of trusts domiciled abroad. 

 Those which may grow up in our own midst we have the ]X)wer 

 of controlling. If the Cmvernment ha\e rea.son to think that 

 the ])rofits of a ring of manufacturers are excessive, they have 

 a weapon ready at hand — the\ can impose an Excise which will 

 divert the excess profits into the i'reasurer's hands. 



