OPENING CEREMONY

Dominion, Volume 26, Issue 101, 23 January 1933, Page 9

OPENING CEREMONY

South African Parliament

forecast OF LEGISLATION Cape Town, Jan. 20. Parliament was opened without incident. The ceremony attracted unusual attention in view of the political situation, which did not develop, the Nationalist caucus having pledged support to the Prime Minister, General Hertzog. The Governor-General’s Speech expressed a hope that the World Economic Conference would lay the foundations on which the nations would be enabled to start anew the reconstruction of national and international wellbeing. Referring to the Ottawa Conference, the speech said that Ministers were confident that the agreement would prove of lasting advantage to the agriculturists and the country as a whole. Already the markets were responding. Ministers were convinced of the necessity of continuing assistance to the farmers. Recent events had set in motion an intense drain of the money resources of the banks, and the only alternative to a catastrophic financial ersis was the release of the Reserve Bank from the obligation to redeem notes in gold. Primage and surtax duties are to be terminated immediately. Subsidies on exports will be continued, money for which will be found from the tax on gold. Legislation is foreshadowed to link South African currency with sterling, with, power, pot to link in the event of sterling breaking seriously. A tax on speculators’ and Stock Exchange profits is also forecasted. Mr. South submitted a motion calling on the Government to resign to facilitate the formation of a National Government. The motion will not precipitate a crisis, as disaffected Nationalists are not prepared to oppose the Government if the negotiations between Mr. South and Mr. Roos are ineffective.