DANGER OF SPLIT

Auckland Star, Volume LXI, Issue 220, 17 September 1930, Page 7

DANGER OF SPLIT

AUSTRALIAN LABOUR. Politicians Refuse to Listen to Union "Bosses." SIR 0. NIEMEYER'S VISIT. (United P.A.—Electric Telegraph—Copyright) (Received 11.30 a.m.) MELBOURNE, this day. The statement of Mr. J. E.Fenton, acting-Prime Minister, that the resolutions passed by the Labour conference or the Australasian Council of Trade Unions, were not legally enforceable upon [Federal Ministers, has aroused much resentment in union circles and a split in the party between the industrial and political sections is regarded as not improbable. The address of the Premier of Victoria,' Mr. 35. J. Hogan, to the Victorian Labour party conference in defence of the necessity for retrenchment of employees and salaries, contained an emphatic contradiction of the statements being made by union leaders that a capitalist conspiracy is exploiting tbe current depression, and that Sir Otto Memeyer in his report on Australian finances' was acting solely on' behalf of British financial interests. Sir Otto had not visited Australia as a bailiff as had. been suggested, but had come to represent the Bank of England, of which Australia desired to become a customer. ;

ROUNDLY CONDEMNED

World Nations and Australian Tariff. DUTIES DEFENDED. (Received 11.30 a.m.) .• . LONDON, September Iβ.. Senator Foil represented Australia at the' International Parliamentary Commercial Conference at Brussels, at which 40 nations were represented. The conference members roundly condemned Australia's tariff, but Mr. Foil defended it and pleaded that Australia was endeavouring to restore her trade balance and readjust her finances. Ho urged that the world should regard Australia as a good customer, endeavouring to solve her temporary difficulties.

AUSTRALIA'S MENACE. Trade Union Proposals Mean Repudiation. BRITISH PRESS CRITICISM. . ... LONDON, September 16. The "Daily Mail" says public exr travagance >and 'the fall in world prices \of "wheat have brought Australia into very grave economic difficulties. If the Commonwealth Government were to repudiate the interest on her public debt there would be an immediate heavy fall in all Government stocks. Moreover, Australia has to find £35,000,000 to pay interest on public loans. If thatis not met Australia will be a defaulter and join the disreputable array of States—mostly in Central America—whose credit is destroyed by similar acts of insolvency. But the trade unions of Australia, which are' so powerful that they are almost a State within a State, have rejected a scaling-down of the rates of pay unless it be accompanied by a reduction of interest by investors. A repudiation of Government liabilities is thus proposed deliberately within the Empire. Perhaps the most practical measure of immediate aid, says the paper, would be to transfer to the Australian Government the proceeds of the incdme-tax collected on the interest on Australian loans paid in this country. In that way the British Government would free itself from the reproach of making a profit out of Australia's membership of the Empire at a time when the Commonwealth was in the midst of dangerous economic difficulties. ... .......

BUTTER IN ENGLAND.

Australia's Efforts to Extend Her Market. STRONG DANISH COMPETITION. SYDNEY, September 16. At a meeting of the Australian Produce Export Board' consideration was given to a suggestion by the London agency for improving the organisation for the marketing of Australian butter in the United Kingdom.

Two .Queensland producers, Messrs. T. Plunket and C. Jamieson, were ;• appointed to visit England and report upon recent developments in connection with marketing, production, the sale of Australian butter in pats direct to the consumers, the extention of trade in the Midlands and the continuance or otherwise of advertising, propaganda.

The board emphasised the probability of severe competition with Danish butter selling in pats in the United Kingdom and the certain curtailment of buying orders as a result of the merging of large companies and the pooling of orders by the Grocers' Associations.

The board reduced the levies on export butter to l-30d per lb and l-60d per lb on cheese. The fund for advertising propaganda in a London was greatly cut owing to the economic conditions. The quantity of butter in cold stores in Australia on' August 30 was 1157 tons.