AUSTRALIA

Greymouth Evening Star, 23 March 1945, Page 5

AUSTRALIA

BANKING LEGISLATION CANBERRA, March 22. In the House of Representatives to-day, the Leader of the Country Party, Mr. Fadden, moved that the Commonwealth Bank Bill be withdrawn and redrafted. He asserted that controls embodied in the legislation submitted by the Government would make black market finance an Australian institution, and would lead ultimately to a contraction in Australia’s trade with the rest of the world. The Government’s legislation would replace the Commonwealth Bank Board by a Governor of the Bank. He would be dictated to by financial experts of the Australian Council of Trade Unions. In the past, Australian industry had had an advantage in a number of banks actively competing to give the best possible service. Industry would be hampered by the disappearance of this system. He said: “Politicalisation of banking, not nationalisation, is the real intention behind the present legislation. Straight-out nationalisation would have been far more honest. can be much clearer than that the Government, by means of the proposed legislation, intends to kill trading banks by slow strangulation. RESCUED SEAMEN. BRISBANE, March 22. Six native survivors of a crew of 85 were picked up on a raft oil tne north Queensland coast to-day. Their ship is believed to have been lost in a cyclone in the Coral Sea. The men, who were found by a search vessel, say that 12 men weie originally on the raft when their ship was abandoned during the cyclone, the others being washed off the rait. Six rafts were observed by the survivors to leave the ship at the time of the disaster. A search by air and sea is continuing. Tne lost ship is an Allied merchant vessel, which sent out on SOS lost Saturday from the Coral Sea at the height of a cyclone which struck the Queensland coast at the week-end.

SYDNEY DOCK DISPUTE (Rec. 12.55 p.m.) SYDNEY, March 23. The official opening of the Sydney graving dock by the Duchess of Gloucester to-morrow has been declared black by 1500 workmen, who all have been emoloyed in the construction of the dock? The men decided to boycott the function because they allege there has been class discrimination in arranging the form of invitation for the ceremony. The men said that the east side of the docks where the Duke and Duchess would officiate had been reserved for 1800 members of Parliament, men and women prominent in society ,and union officials. The 8000 workers and their wives were to be “roped off like sheep” on the opposite side of the dock. Those on the east side dock had been given gold inscribed invitations while the workmen had been issued with invitations on thin paper, which bore each man’s work number. A joint mass meeting of members of the 16 unions involved will be held to-day to consider the endorsement of the decision. HOARDED BANK NOTES. SYDNEY, March 23. Hoarders and others have returned thousands of notes of large denominations to the Commonwealth Bank in the last week and the note issue has been reduced by £2,000,000. This is the result 'of a recent suggestion that such notes might be withdrawn from circulation as a check to blackmarketing, gambling and other undesirable transactions. The note issue now stands at 192 millions compared with, the peak figure of 203 millions at the beginning of January.