ORGANISATION OF INDUSTRY. 616 



of their construction, and in other countries there are similar 

 concessions for railways and public works. Public vehicles 

 are licensed, and the proprietors subjected to conditions. 

 Competition and conflict with the unions led to the liquida- 

 tion of the Australian Steam Navigation Company of New 

 South Wales, possessing- the finest fleet of steamships in the 

 Southern Hemisphere. The monopoly of a wharf, conferred 

 upon the Port Jackson Steamship Company, has been the 

 means of establishing a service of the fullest efficiency, 

 which did not exist before, at lowest voluntary rates of 

 charge. The operation of the trust to prevent the waste of 

 labour and capital by excessive competition, the endeavours 

 of the Australian unions of labour to limit their numbers, 

 and their present antagonism to the employment of free 

 labour outside the unions, represent the action of organisa- 

 tions based on the same princijjle, but in the interests of 

 particular classes, without being subjected to any conditions 

 to secure the interests of other classes. 



The morning on which I post this paper to the Secretary 

 of the Section gives a cablegram in the Australian news- 

 papers notifying that Count Caprivi, the German Chancellor, 

 has proposed to introduce a Bill in the Reichstag to prevent 

 agricultural labourers flocking from the country into the 

 towns. 



There should be in every land a Department of Industry 

 to concern itself with the industries of the country and the 

 employment of its people. For production to realise its due 

 results, to bring to the workers the full measure of the 

 incomes it should give, it must receive all the assistance to be 

 derived from the progress of knowledge and invention. A 

 Department of Industry in a new country like Australia 

 should be a permanent exhibition of industry ; it should con- 

 tain within its walls models and machines of the latest 

 construction ; it should be able to give information as to the 

 most approved processes, and the best methods of work. 

 Its objects should be to collect information as to the employ- 

 ments of capital and labour ; to direct their operations by 

 means of industrial licenses ; to regulate the numbers who 

 could fairly find employment in the particular industries; 

 to impose such conditions as to the use of the most approved 

 appliances, and the adoption of the profit-sharing system, as 

 to secure the fullest amount of production with the most 

 equable distribution of its wealth ; to obtain and impart all 

 information which could be of service to the industries of the 



