JOHN ALEXANDER COCKWURN, Formerly Minister of Education in South Australia.
In Queensland the two principal manufac turing industries are sugar refining and meat preserving, and of the total number of people employed, about 12 per cent find employment in these two industries.
The total output of all factories in Australia. exclusive of those engaged in the production of butter, cheese and bacon, figures of which are included in the pastoral industry, amounts to £166,405,923, of which f99,778,884 represents the value of material and fuel used, and about £66,627,039 the value added in the process of treatment.
The following table gives the class of in dustries which give employment to people in the Commonwealth: Tanning, fell-mongering and wool scouring afford the largest amount of employment among the industries in class 1, and this can be readily understood, seeing that the pastoral industry is still the greatest in the Commonwealth.
In class 2 the manufacture of soap and candles is increasing rapidly.
In class 3 the manufacture of bricks and tiles is the most important, about 65 per cent of those engaged in this class being employed in that industry.
In class 4 it can be readily understood that with the immense forests of valuable timber, the saw mill is the most important of wood working establishments, and about 70 per cent of those employed in that section are in saw mills.
Class 5 included a great number of persons employed in the engineering works of the re spective state government railway and tramway workshops. Also workers in smelting establish ments for the extraction of ore, though these employed in quartz batteries are not classified as factory hands in Australia. There are sev eral important establishments for the manu facture of agricultural implements, and at Gawler, in South Australia, and in Melbourne, the capital of Victoria, important agricultural implement works have been founded. To an Australian firm is due the credit of inventing that great labor-saving appliance, the 'Complete Harvester? In industries connected with food and drink, butter, cheese, meat preserving, sugar mills and breweries employ a great number of hands, while flour mills, aerated water factories, bis cuits and other articles required for local con sumption also employ a great number of persons.
Factories connected with clothing and tex tile fabrics offer more employment than any other section, and here the females employed largely outnumber the males. Victoria shows the greatest development in this industry, and during the last few years the manufacture of wool has made considerable progress in the various states.
Speaking of wages generally, Australia pays its employees high wages compared to other countries, while the genial climate and general healthy conditions of life make living cheap compared to other countries of the world.
During the last few years a system of in dustrial legislation has come into force in most of the states, which brings about better con ditions of work, cleanliness, air space, sanita tion, etc. Australian factories, as a rule, are well built and roomy. The day's work is gen erally limited to eight hours with extra pay ment for overtime in cases of need. Wages boards have also been appointed for .many of the principal industries, and to prevent strikes and lock-outs courts of conciliation and arbi tration have been established.
Taking the Commonwealth as a whole, the latest records show that in industries controlled by wages boards the average earnings of male workers, 21 years old and upward, is f2 15s. 7d. per week, and of females, fl 7s. 5d. per week. the average wage in industries not so regulated being about 2/ per week less.
Pastoral Industry.— The pastoral industry plays the most important part in the resources and wealth of Australia. At the close of 1915 Australia had 69,693,375 sheep, 9,993,743 cattle, 5,392,566 horses and 758,962 pigs.
Nothing is more marvelous than the prog ress of the pastoral industry. In the year 1800 there were only 6,124 sheep, 1,044 head of cattle, 203 horses and 4,017 pigs in the whole of Aus tralia, but it is since 1850 that the greatest progress has been made, and from that date the value of the wool alone which has been exported has amount to £880,000,000 sterling.