BOOM PENDING

New Zealand Herald, Volume 82, Issue 25300, 6 September 1945, Page 5

BOOM PENDING

AMERICAN OPINION EXPANDED LIQUID ASSETS (Reed. 6.30 p.m.) WASHINGTON. Sept. 5 Dr Emerson Schmidt, director of the Economic Research Department of the United States Chamber of Commerce, told the Finance Committee of the Senate, which is hearing evidence on the Full Employment Bill, that American business and individuals last December owned 194,000,000,000 dollars in liquid assets, compared with 66,000,000,000 dollars in 1939. As a result of this and the long-pent-up demand for consumer goods, he could not help but conclude that a great boom was pending, which would last for several years. Accordingly the debt-ridden Federal Government should not be saddled with a new liability largely for the sake of adding a few weeks of benefit payments and increasing payments to 25 dollars a week for displaced war workers, who were already receiving, by previous standards, rather liberal allowances. CANADIAN GENEROSITY FURTHER GIFT TO BRITAIN 1 PROPOSAL FOR PARLIAMENT (Reed. 10.10 p.m.) OTTAWA. Sept. 5 The Canadian Parliament, which opens tomorrow, is expected to discuss a proposal to make Britain either a loan or a gift, possibly 1,000,000.000 dollars, to help the United Kingdom through the post-war trade trials. Lord Keynes conferred for the second successive day with Canadian 1' inance Department officials. He expects to go to Washington tomorrow. As far back as May, 1944, the Prime .Minister of Canada, Mr Mackenzie King, stated that since the war began Canada had supplied Britain and her armed forces with war materials and other supplies worth nearly £900,000,000, of which almost half represented an outright contribution. Since then Britain has benefited enormously under the Mutual Aid Agreement. AMERICAN WATCHDOG PLAN FOR AFTER WAR (Reed. 30.30 p.m.) WASHINGTON, Sept. 5 The Secretary of State, Mr J. F. Byrnes, has subscribed to the idea of a post-war unified intelligence corps to help the United States keep an eye on the rest of the world. He told a press conference that he believed the Office of Strategic Services which was due to disband at the end of the war might be retained as a civilian branch of the unified intelligence corps alongside the regular army and navy corps. Thousands worked for the Office of Strategic Services in the United States and overseas. They included research experts, anthropologists, archaeologists, | also experts on commerce, religion and racial customs, as well as army and navy personnel and parachutists. TALKS IN MOSCOW ARRIVAL OF RUMANIANS (Reed. 6.10 p.m.) LONDON, Sept. 5 The Rumanian Prime Minister, M. Grozea, his Foreign Minister, and other Ministers, have arrived in Moscow by air. They were met by' M. Molotov and were later received by Generalissimo Stalin. The Russian Ambassador to Rumania and the Russian deputy-chairman of the Allied Control Commission there have also arrived in Moscow. MAKING PEACE TREATIES FOREIGN MINISTERS' TASK LONDON, Sept. 4 The first peace treaty will be in the making within a week, says the Press Association's diplomatic correspondent. It is expected that within a month drafts of the agreements ending hostilities with Italy, Hungary, Rumania, Finland and Bulgaria will be submitted to the United Nations. The drafting of these treaties is one of the primary tasks for the Council of Foreign Ministers, which is expected to meet in London on October 9.

SNAKE-HANDLING RITES PREACHER FATALLY BITTEN NEW YORK, Sept. 4 Lewis Ford, a 32-year-old lay preacher of "The Dolly Pond Church of God, of Chattanooga, Tennessee, died within one hour of being bitten by a rattlesnake he was holding as part of a religious service. Snake-handling as part of "faith rites" was revived in the northern part of Tennessee several weeks ago. Ford told a reporter before the meeting: "I may be bitten. I may even die, but if I do'it will be because the Lord wants to show unbelievers that snakes are poisonous." The widow said later that she would request members of the faith to conduct snake rites at Ford's funeral service/ ANOTHER SNAKE VICTIM WIFE OF CLERGYMAN CRerd. 10.30 p.m.) NEW YORK, Sept. 5 The Rev. H. 0. Kirk's wife, who was bitten by a rattle-snake during a snakehandling demonstration, died on Monday singing hymns after giving birth to a child prematurely. The child subsequently died. INCREASING WAGES AMERICAN ECONOMY PLAN (Reed. 7.30 p.m.) WASHINGTON, Sept. <"> The Government had already undertaken a programme to raise each worker's real wages 40 to 50 per cent as rapidlv as possible, stated Mr William Davis, Director of Economic Stabilisation. He added that he was confident the programme would be completed within live years. The method was to keep prices fit about present levels and push up wages 50 per cent. A wage increase was essential to provide consumption of goods, which in turn would ensure a high level of employment. HIGH WAGES IN BRITAIN LONDON, Sept. 4 Between October, 1938, and January, 1945, the wages of more than 5,000,000 manual workers in Britain had an overall rise of 76 per cent. This is revealed bv figures published in the Ministry of Labour Gazette. Most of the wageearners were in the manufacturing industries. The average weekly earnings in January, 1945, were £4 13s 9d, compared with £2 13s 3d in October, 1938. Men over 21 last January averaged £5 19s 3d a week, and women over 18 £3 3s 2d. The increase for women was 21 per cent greater than for men, partly because of the marked increase in the number of women doing work formerly done by men. ITALIAN MOTOR WORKS LONDON. Sept, 4 General Motors is reported to be taking over a controlling interest in the Fiat works in Turin, says the Daily Express. Fiat shares, which were issued at 10s, now stand at £5 15s. General Motors unsuccessfully sought to control Fiat long before the war.