STATE PARLIAMENTS.

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXVIII, Issue 20823, 16 March 1931, Page 9

STATE PARLIAMENTS.

CAMPAIGN FOR ABOLITION.

PROVINCIAL COUNCILS PLAN.

DELEGATES VOTE IN FAVOUR.

By Telegraph—Presi? Association—Copyright. (Received Marcli 15, 5.5 p.m.) SYDNEY. March 15. At a meeting at Wagga Wagga 200 delegates confirmed the policy of the Riverina leaders who are advocating the abolition of the State Parliaments and the substitution of provincial councils with wide local governing powers under one Australian Parliament.

Mr. Charles Hardy, leader of the movement, said the proposed provinces would have sovereign rights within their borders. Each would be responsible for its own development free from outside interference.

The plan was to support the Federal basic wage, but to insist upon the provinces' right to make their own industrial awards.

" We are throwing down the gage of battle to industrial unionism," declared Mr. Hardy, " not because we oppose unionism, but because it can be either a menace or a benefit. To-day it is a definite menace."

Each province would possess a constitution which could not be altered except by the will of the people, whose claim, above all, was the right of self-determina-tion in their own affairs. The police watched the proceedings and took official shorthand notes of the speeches. RATES OF INTEREST. • MR. LANG'S PROPOSALS. HOPE OF CHEAP MONEY. SYDNEY. March 14. Although! the New South Wales Ministry's plan for limiting interest on Government and private borrowings has not been completed, it is understood that the Premier, Mr. Lang, has submitted the following scheme to the Labour Caucus. The rate of interest on Government borrowings to be 3 per cent., that on private borrowings not to exceed 5 per cent., and that on second and subsequent mortgages not to exceed 6 per cent. Interest rates on deposits in banks and other institutions to range from 1£ per cent to 3 per cent., but the State Savings Bank to be exempted. The Premier and some of his colleagues are of the opinion that this plan will provide plenty of cheap money for industrial enterprises by means of which the unemployed will be absorbed in large numbers.

It is proposed that interest on loar.s overseas shall be subject to future negotiations with those concerned.

Financial writers say Mr. Lang's scheme will drive capital to other States where no such restrictions prevail, thereby dealing a severe blow to New South Wales industry. ,