CURRENCY QUESTIONS

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXXI, Issue 21717, 5 February 1934, Page 10

CURRENCY QUESTIONS

COMMITTEE OF INQUIRY PERSONNEL ANNOUNCED WIDE SCOPE OF REFERENCE EXPERT SECRETARIAT'S AID The personnel of the committee to inquire into monetary matters was announced by the Prime Minister, the Rt. Hon. G. W. Forbes, on Saturday niorning, on his arrival in Auckland from Wellington. Mr. Forbes said it would be recollected that a Select Committee of the House last session, when reporting on a petition to Parliament praying for an inquiry into monetary questions, recommended the setting up of a Parliamentary Select Committee. The committee would be a Parliamentary one and would have the powers of a Select Committee of the House. It would consist of the following 10 members of the House of Representatives Mr. C. H. Clinkard, Mr. H. Holland, Mr. F. Lye, Mr. J. N. Massey, Mr. J. W. Munro, Mr. A. J, Murdoch, Mr. J. A. Nash, Captain H. M. Rushworth, Mr. F. W. Schramm and the Hon. W. Downio Stewart. Mr. Nash would be chairman. "The order of reference will enable evidence to bo taken in connection with any monetary systems or standards that have been put forward from time to time, and will be sufficiently wide to ensure a complete investigation being mado into such system or standards, their practicability and the probability of their adoption promoting the development of industry and the welfare of the people of New Zealand," Mr. Forbes said. "Any advocates of such schemes will have full opportunity of placing their views and the particulars of their respective systems before the committee. The proceedings will be public. "A secretariat of experts, the personnel of which will be announced shortly, will be attached to the committee for tho purpose of assisting it in its work." The committee will commence sitting almost immediately. OPPOSITION NOT CONSULTED LEADER RAISES OBJECTION Criticism of the fact that the Opposition had not been consulted with reference to the personnel of the Parliamentary committee to inquire into monetary questions was offered yesterday by Mr. M. J. Savage, Leader of tho Opposition. "The money problem is the greatest of all the problems facing the world to-day, and it should not be considered unreasonable for the Opposition to expect that the Government would consult us before making any appointments to such an important committee," Mr. Savage said. "We are told that the duty of the Opposition is as far as possible to assist the Government in dealing with the major problems facing it, yet this is just one instance among many that might be quoted of how impossible it is for anything of this sort to happen," he added. "One would think that courtesy alone would have induced the Government to consult frankly all parties." Mr. Savage also criticised the order of reference of tho commission, and claimed that no mention was made of the desirability of investigating the failure of the present monetary system or the possible alternatives to the. system.