DOES LABOUR MEAN DEFAULT?

Evening Post, Volume CXV, Issue 120, 24 May 1933, Page 8

DOES LABOUR MEAN DEFAULT?

' There was a time when the Labour Party in .'Australia -was not regarded as something menacing the national credit, '. The Fisher and Hughes Governments did indeed strengthen Australian credit, the former being responsible fof the Commonwealth Bank. Party politics in those' days could fairly have been, regarded as a game unrelated to default or bankruptcy. But this ceased to be when Mr. John Lang rose to power in New South Wales. At a time when all the other Governments.of Australia (including, be it noted, a Labour Government -in South Australia) were fighting to balance Budgets and pay interest, the Lang Government of New South Wales broke away from the Premiers' Plan, 'saw its. savings bank close, defaulted, and was engaged in attempts at corifiscatory taxation when a. General Election overwhelmed Lang and substituted Stevens. Since then, .the. Commonwealth Bank has set a -limit on bank > advances to Governments, economy ' has been the rule, and* Australian 4 per cent, bonds have regained ■ par. But always', there is, not far from the surface, the fear of Langism, with its "distinctive menace to- credit, .which, newly won, could hardly stand another Lang regime. • For that reason, anything like a return of Lang has a far .different meaning from the return" of Labour as formerly understood; therefore the vicissitudes of Langism, and the Willis revolt at Bulli, possess a peculiar interest. Fresh from cheering himself over the Legislative Council referendum voting* Mr. Lang finds his former ally and Agent-General running against the Lang candidate, and apparently receiving from the Bulli miners a good union welcome, possibly befitting Mr. Willis's old association with the coal-miners' organisation. Yesterday's cablegrams suggest a new Labour cleavage of • strategic importance. Labour in Australia must sooner or later decide whether it is going to stick to its "converted bondholders or plunge them again into the pit. As long as the latter possibility remains, even if in New South Wales only, Australian credit, and also the Australian Federation, will h& iil danger,,