AUSTRALIA’S DUTY

Ashburton Guardian, Volume 51, Issue 25, 10 November 1930, Page 5

AUSTRALIA’S DUTY

TO OBSERVE OBLIGATIONS.

PAYMENT OF MATURING LOANS.

ASSURANCE BY AIR SCULLIN

(United Press Association —Copyright.) (Received This Day, 10.30 a.m.) LONDON., November 9.

After the decision to proceed immediately with the maturing loan, Mr Scullin, in. a statement said: “ The fundamental principles adopted by the Government, confirmed by supporters of the Ministry, are that we felt that the preservation of our good name and fame depends upon the scrupulous observance of financial obligations, and any departure from that principle will react disastrously on. the people as a whole, particularly the wage-earners. The public need not doubt the Government’ s determination .to .meet its obligations. Nothing will induce us to adopt a policy of deliberately deferring payment of maturing loans. They must be met on the due date. Any other course would be disastrous to our credit aid delay for years the restoration, of economic prosperity. J ae sufferings of the people will be acute, but they would become more acute and widespread if confidence in the Goveinment’s honesty were shaken. this Government will honour its obligations and I am confident that any Australian Government which failed to do so would lose the support of the Australian people.”

MR SCULLIN HAS HOPE.

WISER COUNSELS MAY PREVAIL

LONDON, November 9. Mr J. H- Scullin (Prime Minister of Australia), and Mr F. Brennan (Federal Attorney-General) returned hurriedly from Dorchester to London, to enable them to have better communication with Canberra. ~ , It is believed possible that JVlr ocullim will pick up the liner Otranto at Toulon on November 14. Imperial Communications, Ltd., naa arranged for Mr Scullin to speak telephonically to Australia from. Bridgewater. Mr Scullin was anxious to discuss the position with Mr Lyons, and to persuade him not to proceed wit i his resignation until every effort had been made to secure the rescinding ol the caucus resolutions. air Scullin felt that there were good prospects of wiser counsels pievailing before Tuesday. This conversation was cancelled owincr to Mr .Scullin’s decision to return to London from Dorchester.

LOAN REDEMPTION ISSUE.

FEDERAL CABINET DIVISION

(Received This Day, 10.30 a.m.) SYDNEY, This. Day. Speaking at Burnie, Mr A. J Lyons (Acting-Federal Treasurer) said that Mr J. H. Scullin was right behind the policy which he himself and Air J. L. Fenton (Acting-Prime Minister) had sponsored, but a minority of the Gabinet w r as certainly in favour of deteiring redemption of the loan. It is stated iu Federal circles that owing to the minority of the Cabinet, favouring Mr Lyon’s policy, the position of Mr W- F. Ansley (Minister of Health) and Air J. A. Beasley (Honorary Alinister) as Ministers may become untenable. They will either have to withdraw their opposition to the Government or give up their positions.

LOSSES ON RAILWAYS.

TOTAL OF £8,491,639 IN YEAR. 1 (Received This Day, 10.30 a.m.) SYDAEY, This Day. The Commonwealth Railway Commissioner (Mr Graham} in his report advocates the elimination of the present division of control (seven separate administrative systems) and the convening of a conference of all railway commissioners for the purpose or seeking a solution of the problem of the drift of Australian railway finances. The report stated that for the last five years the aggregate recorded loss in Australian railways was £31,488,000. This did not allow for depreciation. The results of the working of Commonwealth and State railways for the year ended June 30, 1930, were: revenue £45,852,919, working expenses £38,320,720, interest £16,023,838: loss £8,491,639. Air Graham suggested that a committee of controlling railway commissioners of Australia investigate the railway position on a national basis.

. FEDERAL LOAN PROPOSAL.

AGREEMENT POSSIBLE. CANBERRA, November 9. It is now stated that the refusal by the Acting-Prime .Minister (Mr J. E. Fenton) to carry out the demands of the militant wing of the Labour Party leads to the expectation that the Moderates will agree to the plan of Mr Lyons (Federal Treasurer) for a conversion loan to cover the £27,000,000 of loans maturing in December.

DANGERS OF REPUDIATION. WARNING BY MR J. H. THOMAS. LONDON, Nov. 8. It was nearly midnight at Bristol’s dinner to the Dominion delegates to the Imperial Conference when Mr J. H. Thomas (Secretary of State for the Dominions) responding to the toast of his Majesty’s Ministers, made the British Government’s hist official reference to the Australian. crisis. It took the nature of a striking warning to those suggesting repudiation of Australia’s obligations. Mr Thomas said: “Any policy carrying repudiation is doomed to disaster. _ Only those of us knowing the British Commonwealth’s good name, knowing its trustee stocks as carrying the hallmark of security, know the anxiety at

the moment in the minds of thousands of people, who could not forget that when Mr J. H.. Scullin arrived he declared as a responsible, honest man that the rejected in the strongest possible language any idea of repudiation of Australia’s national obligations. “Those who have seen the published statements of the present position in Australia cannot but be sympathetic with Mr Scullin’s position. Nobody knows better than myself or you that the Dominion’s credit cannot be lightly brushed away. The good name of all the Dominions if it is anywise challenged must have repercussions throughout the Empire. We feel your responsibilities, we understand your difficulties, and we join in thanking 3'ou for your manly and courageous attitude, which in the end, despite difficulties, must ultimately triumph. “ Making allowances for legitimate Party conflicts, there are certain things which, are not only essential but also fundamental to the nation’s existence. Contracts between individual States must be recognised. I say, with all the responsibility of my position, either as a Labour leader or a British statesman, that any policy of repudiation of moral or legal obligations will in tlie end be doomed) to disaster. , “I pay my tribute to Air express my feeling and your feeling of pride in his stand, and say to him, ‘ Hold on to such a fundamental principle aboye all else.’ ”

LONDON “ECONOMIST’S” VIEW.

LONDON, November 9. Discussing the Australian financial situation, the “Economist” outspokenly asserts that the Labour caucus is living in an atmosphere of unreality, relying on a policy of naked inflation, and disregarding the post-war expei ienoes of Germany and Austria. Tlie pajper adds: “The Australian Labourites are still living in a_ fool s paradise, thereby seriously endangei - ing the good work of the Niemeyer mission.” . . . . ~ , The London position is further obscured by the impossibility of ascertaining the extent to which Australian securities are at present held by laige interests, such as assurance and trust companies. It is generally believed that such holdings are exceeding y large, which, though satisfactory for smaller investors, may react disadvanshould events produce sudden selling by individual large holders, though such a contingency must, still be regarded as unlikely.