SERIOUS POSITION.

Auckland Star, Volume LX, Issue 261, 4 November 1929, Page 7

SERIOUS POSITION.

e Australia In Financial 3 Straits. e TAX INCREASES INEVITABLE. e —~ d CANBERRA, November 3. P The Federal Cabinet has made investi- : gations which are understood to have F disclosed a serious linancial position in •* various Treasury accounts which have e been overdrawn. The Federal Treasurer, Mr. E. G. 3 Theodore, faces a difficult; task owing <* to the tightness of the London and e New York money markets, and the « necessity of converting loans of about il £130,000,000 which wiil mature in the nest 14 months. ! The fall in wool prices means a drop lof from £10.000.000 to £15,000,000 in the amount available in London from this source for purchases for Australia. The coming Federal budget i≤, therefore, causing apprehension, since heavy increases in taxation are inevitable. One suggestion is that the petrol tax should be" raised from 2d to 6d a gallon. It is stated that petrol costs only 5d a "allon to land in Australia, and is sold at 2/.

* GERMANY AND POLAND.

Lα ' a AGREEMENT SIGNED. :o 15 BERLIN', November 3. ! Germany and Poland have signed an a- agreement settling their differences. The :i. most important clause is one in ■which )Q Poland renounces the right to purchase ■v farms held by Germans after the death of the present owners.