Although Australia is beginning to manufacture her own woollen goods, she still buys a large proportion of her textiles from England and the European continent. Nevertheless, American firms have built up a large trade in cottons, particularly shirtings, calicoes, and denims.
Credit is the latest commodity imported from the United States. Until 1921 London bankers had enjoyed a monopoly in handling the bonds of the Australian states. In that year Queensland disagreed with the home government over a question of legislative policy and came to New York for money. Two loans amounting to twenty-two million dollars were floated in Wall Street at six and seven per cent. These bonds soon sold above par, and it is believed that the loans will help promote our trade in Queensland.
In a recent year Australia was the largest foreign purchaser of American automobiles and all our leading motor-car companies now have well-established agencies here. The Commonwealth is as big as the United States yet it has only one tenth as many miles of railroads, so that the motor car is a great aid to travel, and is becoming, as with us, a business necessity. At present the Commonwealth has only one car to every seventy-three people, while the United States has one to every ten and Canada one to every sixteen. American automobiles selling for from seven hundred to twenty-four hundred dollars are the most popular. On account of freight and other charges, the selling price of any car is nearly twice that of the same make in the United States. Gasoline, tires, and other motor supplies also cost about double as much as with us. Hence the car that has a low gas consumption and is easy on tires makes a stronger appeal than do the heavier machines. Some tires are now being made in Australia, the local factories supplying about half the demand of the country.
As a rule, the automobile chassis only is imported from the States. This is because the Australian tariff has been framed so as to protect and develop the local body-making industry throughout the Commonwealth. The duty on an American or foreign car, body and all complete, is exceedingly heavy, while the duty on the chassis alone is moderate. The Australian manufacturers turn out good-looking automobile bodies. They are not so standardized as are ours, as the makers are willing to cater to individual tastes.
Speaking of local manufactures reminds me of a great change that has taken place in Australia’s markets in the last few years. It used to be that every town of any size had hardware stores stocked with American-made farm implements and machinery. As I have said, our ploughs, reapers, saws, hatchets, and hammers are largely used, but they are not sold now in the same proportion as formerly. This is because Australia has begun to use her abundant supplies of coal and iron to make her own steel. The business began in a big way with the Newcastle works of the great Broken Hill Mining Company. This concern was started soon after the discovery at Broken Hill, New South Wales, of some of the richest silver deposits on earth. The original company issued a small amount of stock at five hundred and fifty dollars a share. A year later one share sold for one hundred and fifty thousand dollars and six years later was worth, with dividends and bonuses, the sum of seven and a half million dollars. Eleven companies, more or less interrelated, are now operating at Broken Hill, mining lead and zinc as well as silver.
One of these, the Broken Hill Proprietary Company, Limited, opened iron works at Newcastle just after the outbreak of the World War. Cut off from other sources of supply, the various state railways poured in orders for material, and since then there have grown up about this and a similar plant at Lithgow affiliated industries producing iron and steel goods. One is making galvanized iron, so much of which is used all over the country for roofs, tanks, and even houses. Another is turning out wire nails and fencing. A third is kept busy producing car-wheel tires and axles. At Melbourne is the plant of the Sunshine Harvester Company, which employs four thousand workmen and makes tractors and other kinds of agricultural implements. In all, close to one hundred and thirty metal and machinery plants are fabricating domestic or imported iron and steel.
This stripper harvester is a product of Australia’s attempt to make her own farm machinery, for it was manufactured at Melbourne. The dry climate makes it possible to thresh the wheat as it stands in the field.
American agricultural machinery is widely used in Australia but must now compete with implements produced in the Commonwealth and protected by the high tariff policy.