MR. LYONS IN SYDNEY

Evening Post, Volume CXI, Issue 98, 28 April 1931, Page 9

MR. LYONS IN SYDNEY

CHEERED TO THE ECHO

DEFENCE OF THE BANKS

GUARDING PEOPLE'S FUNDS

United Press -Association—By Electric Tel»« graph—Copyright.. (Received 28th April, 10 a.m.X . SYDNEY, This Day.' Not for many years has a political leader received such a tumultu* ous reception as that accorded Mr. J. A. Lyons by the 3500 people who filled every portion of the Sydney, Town Hall last night. About three thousand were unable to gain admission, and heard the speech through' amplifiers outside the hall.

I Mr. Lyons said that the Federal ; Treasurer,- Mr. E. G. Theodore, ap[parently contended that the risks of 'the Commonwealth Bank's insol* Ivency and the consequent ruination iof its customers should be incurred so that the Government might continue to spend more than it received. The size of the gathering indicated . that, the conscience of the people had been aroused. There was a ..disorganised rabble in the Labour Party, each faction vicing with the other in the concoction of more and more fantastic schemes. Its leaders in a time of national peril had sacrificed the work of reconstruction to a sordid scramble for place and power. He refused to be an accomplice to plans that would lead the wage-earners into a wilderness of currency inflation. The Government had no more right to demand excessive financial assistance from tliaf banks than to demand it individually, from private citizens,' whose funds' the banks were safeguarding. Mr. Lyons added that he believed there should be a sound tariff policy, with effective preference to Great Britain and inter-Dominion recipro* city. The audience repeatedly rose and cheered him to the echo.