COURT HEARING ON BANK BILL

Press, Volume LXXXIII, Issue 25346, 20 November 1947, Page 7

COURT HEARING ON BANK BILL

Adjournment Taken ASSURANCE FROM GOVERNMENT (N2. Press Association—Copyright) (Rec. 9 p.m.) SYDNEY. Nov. 19. The legal battle over the Commonwealth Government’s Banking Bill, which began in the High Court today when all the trading banks sought interim injunctions against the Government, was adjourned by Mr Justice Dixon until Friday. This was done after counsel for the Commonwealth Government had assured the Court that the bill now before Parliament would not be offered for Royal Assent until November 27. It was also indicated that no notices would be issued under the section of the bill which is in dispute for two clear days after the notice of assent had been proclaimed in the Government Gazette. New services within the Commonwealth Bank after the taking over of the private banks were forecast in the House of Representatives to-day by the Prime Minister (Mr Chifley), who said he had in mind a much expanded system. There was a very wide field for the development of an organisation within the bank by which the ordinary man, not the big businessman, could obtain advice on matters connected with his business from whoever was controlling the economic life of the country. The Government felt that the banking system had never adequately served the people, and that did not apply only to the private banks. The business of banking was something more than merely lending money. A bank could give service in the preparation of statistics and in economic advice, which to some extent had been done by the Bank of New South Wales and the Rural Bank. “Insurance Never Discussed” “Insurance has never been discussed by me with the Australian Lribour Party or with the Cabinet since the Insurance Bill was handled by the Information Minister (Mr A. A. Calwell),” said Mr Chifley in the House of Representatives to-aay. He told a Liberal member who had expressed fears about the nationalisation of insurance that he could “rest easy in his bed.” It was by no means unusual for him to write letters saying that he would consider a number of subjects. When Mr Calwell was handling the Insurance Bill, he (Mr Chifley) had said that the Government was anxious particularly concerning industrial insurance, as he knew there were some companies which were not in a very sound financial position. This had been cleaned up in the bill, and since then the Government had given no consideration to the matter of insurance.