LANG’S COFFERS NOW EMPTY

Dominion, Volume 24, Issue 266, 6 August 1931, Page 9

LANG’S COFFERS NOW EMPTY

Public Service Salaries Cannot Be Paid INDUSTRIAL WAGES WILL BE FOUND i —■— Reduction Bill Struggle in New South Wales PREMIER ASSAILED BY OPPOSITION LEADER (United Press Association.-By Electric Telegraph--Copyright.) (Rec. August 5, 8.30 p.m.) Sydney, August 5. With an empty Treasury the Premier of New South Wales, Mr. J. T. Lang,, found it necessary to instruct the heads of the Government departments to withhold salary payments to-morrow from the officers of the Public Service. The wages of men on industrial services are to be paid as usuaL , The existing state of affairs was referred to in blunt terms by Mr. T. K. Bavin, Leader of the Opposition. Speaking in the Legislative Assembly, he said: “I hold in my hand a circular issued to-day by the Treasury ordering the withholding of the Public Servants’ salaries for the time being. This emphasises the seriousness of the Government’s position, which is entirely due to the senseless actions of the Premier. He is pursuing a bombastic course, arising from egotism and stubbornness—a course which has brought the country to its present condition of degradation. My suggestion is that if he cannot govern he had better make way for a Government that can.” <

In the meantime the Public Service Salaries Bill fight has returned to the Assembly. To-day the Legislative Council, by 28 votes to 20, amended the Bill by removing the clause limiting salaries to a maximum of £5OO a year and substituting a gradual scale of reductions throughout the Service.

Mr. F. 8. Boyce, who moved the amendment, estimated the savings under the new scheme at £1,850,000. He said that it was the Public, servants’ own scheme, with modifications. that was incorporated in the amendment.

Under the amendment the salary of every officer would be reduced as follows:—15 per cent, on those between £lOO and £2OO ; 17i per cent, between £2OO and £400; 20 per cent between X £4OO and £6OO ; 22j per cent, between £6OO and £BOO ; 25 per cent, between £BOO and £1000; 27 J per cent, between £lOOO and £1500; 324 per cent, on salaries in excess of £l5OO, Premier’s Motion is Carried. In the Legislative Assembly, Mr. Lang moved a motion disagreeing with

the Legislative Council’s amendment to the Bill, and the motion was carried on a party division by 47 votes to 34. Mr. Lang said, it was quite evident that the Legislative Council was assuming unto Itself the right to govern the country. The Government had purposely drafted its taxation Bills so the burdens would fall on the shoulders of those best able to bear them. Labour “Definitely Pledged.” Indeed, the Government was definitely pledged not to attack wages of the people in the community, but the Legislative Council had entirely defeated this object, first by throwing out the Emergency Taxation Bill, and now by so' mutilating the Public Service Salaries Bill that if the Government accepted the amendment it would be tantamount to admitting that the standard of living in New South Wales was too high. Mr. T. R. Bavin, Leader of the Opposition, said the Premier’s criticism of the Upper House was unworthy. Position Grows Desperate. It is believed that the action of the Upper House will precipitate a State political crisis. Mr. Lang last night took so serious a view of the matter that he cancelled his trip to Melbourne to attend the Loan Council, and sent his Attorney-General, Mr. J. Lajnaro, as a substitute. Well-informed circles state that Mr. Lang’s position is desperate. He must have £500,000 from the Loan Council this week in order to pay Government employees on Thursday, and the Loan Council before granting moi’e money intends to insist that his economy plan must be in full working order. The “Labour Daily” says that if the Government refuses to accept the drastic amendments to the Salaries Bill It is likely that the Loan Council will

refuse to advance assistance to New South Wales on the plea that the economy legislation promised by Mr. Lang has not become law. Th this event there will be little or no pay for the Public Service to-morrow. OVERDRAFT INTEREST Reduced by Sydney Bank (Rec. August 5, 9.30 p.m.) Sydney, August 5. The Commercial Banking Company of Sydney, Limited, announces a reduction of interest on overdrafts of 1 per cent, from August 1. “The recent reduction of rates for fixed deposits should be a material factor in assisting the Government in the conversion loan scheme,” said Sir Mark Sheldon, chairman of directors, at the annual meeting of the Australian Bank of Commerce Ltd., a few days ago. “The reduction of 1 per cent,” he said, “should not only assist the Government but should also lend a much-needed aid to commerce and industry, as it vail enable the banks to adjust their advance rates on a more favourable bans to the borrower. W.e feel that the first relief should be extended to the primary producers, and, indeed, in my opinion, it will be advisable to reduce the rates by more than 1 per cent, in the more necessitous cases.” The Decline in Prices. The decline in the prices realised for Australia’s exportable products, said Sir Mark Sheldon, had been accentuated during the past twelve months, until now world’s prices were ruling at such low levels that to enable Australiia to rehabilitate itself there must be drastic reductions in the cost of all Government expenditure. Every thinking person must recognise the importance of getting primary producers of all classes on to a footing which would enable them to work profitably, as it was from the results of primary produce that Australia must eventually get relief.. Secondary industries in Australia found it, at present, utterly impossible to export at a profit, and their very existence was dependent upon the survival and re-estab-lishment upon a profitable basis of the primary industries. It was hoped, Sir Mark continued, that one of the lessons that Australia would learn from the crucial times “he was passing through was the absolute necessity of having an independent reserve bank functioning only and solely as a reserve bank and free from pobtical control. A bank of that nature would inspire confidence in those outside Australia having financial dealings with the Commonwealth. "Wild Talk of Control.” “In’certain quarters,” he continued, “we have heard some wild talk of control and domination of public affairs by bankers. In practice nothing could be further from the truth. It does not require a very deep examination of the subject to know that banks are in a very sensitive position and are entirely dependent upon the support and confide'nee of the public.” It could not be pointed out too often, he said, that when Governments took too great a proportion of. the people’s income, stagnation, unemployment. and high money rates resulted,. The Governments of Australia took an astonishingly high proportion of the income of the individual, and on this taxation bad built up a Government structure which was draining’ the financial life of the country. Available credit was absorbed by Governments. and private enterprise was thus stifl'd. Australia was paying now a heavy toll for State-owned enterprises, more particularly the railways. The accumulation of losses on these ventures entailed heavy additional taxation, which, in turn, diverted capital from private enterprise, and thns added to the number of the unemployed.