POLICY SPEECH

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXXI, Issue 21878, 14 August 1934, Page 9

POLICY SPEECH

FEDERAL ELECTION MR. LYONS' REVIEW COUNTRY'S RECOVERY CREDIT RESTORATION EXPOET TRADE FUTURE / By —P-foa Apooc'nt'on—ConynjM (Receiver! August 13. 10 K p.m.) S"VT)NKY. August 13 The Prime Minister, Mr. J. A. Lvons, fired the first shot in the Federal pWtion campaign in the Sydney Town Hall to-night, delivering a policy speech to a huge audience. He bernn by emphasising the manner iri which his Government had rehabilitated finances, restored credit, banished the voices of confiscation and repudiation, cut unemployment in half, increased factory employment bv 20 per cent, and improved production by £40,000.000, while the national income had risen by £60,000,000. yonov, he said. w?s n<"-er so cheap. Probfbly no country in the world was ablp to show such, imnressive evidence of imni/ovcment in the public credit ns was reflected in the reductions of interest rates on public borrowings. Labour Platform Condemned Mr. Lyons condemned at length the Lnhour policy of socialisation of credit and nationalisation of banking, and said the suggestion that the banks had withheld their help from Governments was indecent. He added that Mr. Scullin's method of forcing the trading banks out of existence apparently was by allowing the Commonwealth Bank to undercut services and interest charges and outdistance them in credit expansion, causinc a rush of depositors to what eventually would become a politically-con-trolled Commonwealth Bank, which, with Labour's puppet at the head, would be amenable to elastic ideas about the expansion of credits and the issues of bales of notes. Mr. Lvons said the Government would continue to foster a demand for Australia's export products and _ would never willingly accept restriction on production or export. Home Production Schemes Practically every primary product except wool had been subsidised ip some manner. This system of subsidies could not endure indefinitely. World conditions might not improve, in which case it might be necessary to contemplate general schemes for home production, prices for which, in turn, might involve some control of the industries concerned. The Government recognised there was a very real danger m any scheme- of guaranteed prices, which might result in over-production, with disastrous consequences to those who had been induced to enter the industry. He hoped it would not be necessary to take action along these lines in the event of a continuance of unfavourable conditions in the exporting industries. ~, r T " For the present," said Mr. Lyons, " the Government will continue the eystem of protection and subsidies to primary industries. The co-operation of States will also be invited in a comprehensive scheme for putting the primary industries on a sounder basis, giving relief from debts through a recovery loan, the proceeds from which will be spent by State Governments on approved schemes in rural areas.

Inter-State Commission Mr. Lyons explained that the secondary industries had received substantial help from the Government through a revision of the tariff on 1873 items, while considerable relief had been given by the primage reduction. He announced the intention of the Ministry to reconstitute the interState commission for dealing with interState disputes and for the investigation of affairs of trade' and commerce. The defence policy, which would involve an extension of the existing services, would not impose further burdens on the taxpayers. Mr. Lyons submitted an elaborate plan for reducing unemployment to a minimum, through the co-operation of States, by the provision of considerable funds, possibly raised locally, for planned afforestation, the unification of railway gauges, the construction of country water and sewerage systems, the development of oil shale deposits and other major public works.