AUSTRALIA'S OUTLOOK

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXIX, Issue 21292, 20 September 1932, Page 10

AUSTRALIA'S OUTLOOK

"COUNTRY ON THE MEND : '| GOOD SEASON EXPERIENCED SIR MARK SHELDON'S VIEWS. " When the Federal Government undertakes the conversion of the New South Wales £11,000,000 loan in London in November, the rate of conversion will be> a fair indication of the credit of the Dominions," said Sir Mark Sheldon, the Australian financial and. commercial authority, in ah interview yesterday. Sir Mark is a through passenger by the Niagara on a business trip to the United States and Britain. Referring to the reported further rise of Australian Government securities on the London market, he said there had been a wonderful revival since the dismissal of the Lang administration. Last May it would have been impossible to renew a loan at any price, but such a change had taken place that probably on the next occasion Australia would be able to do so on better terms than any she haa obtained in the past 16 years. " Conditions in Australia are shaping in the right direction," he continued. " The Federal Government undoubtedly will balance its Budget for the current year, and there are indications thai; if the tariff is lowered there will be a substantial surplus, owing to the good season experienced since the recent rains. We are looking for a decrease in taxation. It is now on a gigantic scale, and until it is reduced considerably, with some assurance that the present rates will not be restored, there is not likely to be any great development of enterprise in commerce, as the return to-day is not commensurate with the tremendous risk. "On the other hand, Australia is on the mend. The greatest difficulty in the past two years has been not so much the depression itself as the reluctance of one political party to look facts in the face.*'