8 R. GREIG-SMITH. 



from Germany in 1913 reached the comparatively small 

 sum of one and three-quarter millions of pounds sterling, 

 yet it is a "key" industry, and the shortage of dyes during 

 the war seriously influenced the textile and other industries 

 which aggregate annually to about two hundred millions of 

 pounds sterling. Science has not only made the dye 

 industry, but has also created the production of synthetic 

 drugs and perfumes in which Germany has a practical 

 monopoly. 



The war has made it clear that our empire should be self 

 reliant; we should be able to make everything and be 

 independent of all other countries. And what applies to 

 the Empire also applies, although with less force, to our 

 Continent of Australia. It may not be economically sound 

 to make an article for a shilling which we can import for 

 sixpence, but it is exceedingly useful in an emergency when 

 the article cannot be obtained. Under free-trade the 

 inhabitants of Great Britain considered it to be thrift to 

 be able to buy sugar for If d per pound while it cost the 

 people living at the door of the continental sugar mill, 

 where the same sugar was refined, 6d per pound, but it made 

 them dependent upon a possible enemy for their supplies. 



The necessity for economy. 

 The cost of the war is rapidly mounting up, and this cost 

 must be met in the future. The Britain, with its huge 

 increase in the national debt of from two to four thousand 

 millions, will be different from the Britain of the pre-war 

 days. The same applies to our Continent of Australia. 

 Taxation will be greater and labour will not lower its 

 reward, so that the spending power of the individual will 

 be lessened. How then is the situation to be met ? 



There is only one way, and that is in the economy of 

 production, whether it be by the utilisation of labour-sav- 

 ing devices, by a saving of useless labour, by the concen- 



