15 MARCH 1930, Page 2

Australia and Protection The Australian House of Representatives reopened on

Wednesday. The Labour Prime Minister, Mr. Scullin, is striking out wildly amid a sea of troubles. With only some Six million inhabitants in a continent as large as the United States, and rich in natural resources, Australia is to-day a warning of the'effects of economic nationalism. There is an immense over-development of small plants, and a waste of capital in the creation of redundant industries. Costs of living and of enterprise are high, and periodic demands for increased wages on the ground that Protection has put up the cost of living alternate with a demand for higher Protection on the ground that the wages have put up the cost of production.

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