FRESH CONVERSION

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXXI, Issue 21729, 19 February 1934, Page 9

FRESH CONVERSION

AUSTRALIAN LOANS OPERATION IMMINENT (Received February IS, 5.5 p.m.) LONDON, Feb. 17 An £18,000,000 Australian conversion operation, to complete the current optional programme, is imminent. The terms, which are now being arranged, almost certainly will be the best made yet. Australian stocks, for the moment, are firmly in the ascendant, all prices having appreciably advanced yesterday. This suggests that Australia's stability is attracting investors to an increasing degree, because it contrasts with the turbulence in Europe. The Australian High Commissioner. Mr. S. M. Bruce, will join the Oronsay at Toulon on February 23, en route to the Commonwealth. AUSTRALIAN STATES FINANCIAL DEADLOCK FEDERAL AID IMPOSSIBLE MELBOURNE. Feb. 17 Tlic full conference of Federal and State Ministers opened with a definite statement by the Prime Minister, Mr. J. A. Lyons, that the Commonwealth could not afford to hand over a substantial proportion of its revenue to the States as the Premiers had suggested. Mr. Lyons said it was impossible to make further large payments to the States without increasing taxation. The alternative would bo an unbalanced Federal Budget. The actual position, therefore, is a deadlock.

A message from Canberra states that Australia's public debt at December 31. 1933, totalled £1,213,296,355, according to a statement, in the Commonwealth Gazette. The total interest payable annually is £49,799,112.