EXCHANGE POLICY

Otago Daily Times, Issue 22065, 22 September 1933, Page 7

EXCHANGE POLICY

OPPOSITION TO HIGH RATE LIVE TOPIC IN HOUSE (Fbom Oub Pabliamentaey Repoeteb.) WELLINGTON, September 19. The prediction that the Government’s depreciation of the currency through the high exchange rate would be one of the principal points at issue during the present session of Parliament, as it was of the last, was borne out when the House of Representatives met this afternoon. When the House resumed after the formal opening ceremony, Mr W. A. Veitch, one of the Coalition members who broke with the Government during last session over the exchange question, immediately asked leave to introduce the Banks Indemnity Exchange Repeal Bill, This Bill evidently seeks to repeal the Act of last session under which the Government increased the rate of exchange to 25 per cent, and indemnified the banks against losses through the accumulation of surplus funds in London, Mr C. H. Chapman gave notice to ask the Prime Minister whether he would make an early statement of the Government’s intentions regarding the exchange rate, which, he maintained, was the direct cause of much unemployment. Mr R. Semple, sought an immediate reduction. in the rate, maintaining that it had increased the cost of living, added to the number of unemployed, decreased imports, given little or no relief to working farmers, imposed hardship on the business community, and damaged New Zealand’s credit on the London market. Mr F. Langstone was the third Labour member to question the Government’s exchange dealings. He asked whether it was true that the Prudential Assurance Company had profited to the extent of £250,000 by entering into the exchange business, and, had used this profit to purchase land in Wellington for a huge new building, and whether the company was to receive financial assistance from the Unemployment Fund towards erecting the building.