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The article presents a discussion on immigration into Australia after the Second World War. Between 1947 and 1956, over one million immigrants arrived in Australia. This represents an average annual increase of about 1.1 per cent in the total population of the continent. With the exception of Israel, the rate at which these immigrants poured in was the highest of any country. Sustained immigration, plus the equally fast natural growth of about 1.3 per cent annually, should result in a total population of 10 million in about 1960. In 1946, similar to Great Britain's White Paper on full employment, the Commonwealth government of Australia issued its White Paper on Employment. This paper established high and stable employment as the principal objective of economic policy. The original immigration policy has hardly at all been considered in relation to the full employment goal of the Welfare State. In fact, economic motivation became prominent only after humanitarian and national defense reasons of the early post-war Operation Welcome more or less ran out.

This paper is an attempt to apply to Australian statistics certain techniques of the National Bureau of Economic Research for detecting stages of the trade cycle. A major objective of this type of analysis is to reduce the time between a turning point and its identification. The results do not provide a mechanical procedure for interpreting movements in statistical series. This is true not only for current analysis but also when the techniques are applied in historical studies; they do not, for example, eliminate the difficulties of interpreting the period 1956-58. However, the task of subjective judgement is facilitated by the appropriate processing and classification of the statistics. The most highly developed of the National Bureau's techniques is the distinction between "leading", "coincident" and "lagging" series, according to the usual relationship between the cycles of specific series and the general business cycle. Another device is the diffusion index, a summary measure pertaining either to groups of economic series or to components of significant aggregates. Examples of both types of diffusion indexes, which show the percentage of components rising in any particular month, are given in this paper. Their logical justification is that they tend to move in advance of the general business cycle and therefore give advance warning of turning points. Other techniques devised by the National Bureau are not considered in this paper. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article discusses the effect of the Great Depression on employment policy and labor politics in Australia through the 1960s. The psychological effect of high rates of unemployment in the 1930s is discussed, as are policies of full employment, influenced by Keynsian economics, that prevailed in Australia after World War II. In particular, the government's White Paper on Full Employment, published in 1945, is discussed, as are the political reactions of labor unions and the Australian Labor Party.

The article discusses the economic growth of New South Wales and Victoria. It focuses on the implementation of tariffs in these regions for the protection of domestic industries. While Victoria had adopted the protective system earlier, New South Wales strictly sticks to a tariff for revenue only. The growth of population has been more rapid in New South Wales than in Victoria. It discusses the tariff systems in both the areas and concludes that a protective tariff will not work in all cases and may be beneficial for only some industries.

This article presents the author's views on U.S. political economists Henry George's Australian tour. Henry George and his wife's arrival in Australia had a deep significance for both of the Americans. For his wife it was a return to her native country which she had not seen since she was five years old. For Henry George it was a visit to the land of enlightenment. This great Pacific island had held particular interest for him ever since, as a lad of fifteen, he had sailed to Melbourne. But it was not until after his own awakening to economic and political injustices that he looked with hope towards this country where the secret ballot had originated, where railroads and telegraph systems were publicly owned, and where savings banks and parcel post were part of the postal service. Their reception in Sydney was enthusiastic. George had to make a brief speech from his carriage to a huge crowd in front of the Town Hall, and then another and longer one inside, where he was officially welcomed by Mayor Sydney Burdekin and by city and colonial dignitaries.

The article explores the essential features of the national wage policy in Australia. The determination of wage rates in the country is in the hands of a large number of tribunals, constituted under state and federal law. The centralization of decision-making in wage-fixing has been encouraged by the centralized structure of unions representing nearly 60 per cent of all wage and salary earners, and employers' organizations. However, the present constitutional provisions, the federal government has no powers to fix wages and prices.

The article focuses on issues related to economic effects of the Australian tariff. There is analysis of the Australian Tariff Committee's report on tariff and free trade theory. Professor Jacob Viner states that free trade theory had not attempted to face certain questions relevant to the application of protection to a country with resources like those of Australia. Economist Alfred Marshall's analysis of the laws of increasing and decreasing returns upon the fiscal policy is of special interest to Australia. It is viewed that the export industries have to bear most of the tariff burden. It is observed that the greatest expansion of employment in the primary industries is in dairying and sugar which have benefited substantially from the tariff. An analysis of the relation of the increase in employment to tariff assistance for manufacturing sustains the conclusion that those industries which have received the greatest protection are those in which the expansion has been most pronounced.