CONTROL OF CURRENCY

Taranaki Daily News, 6 September 1935, Page 7

CONTROL OF CURRENCY

POWER FOR GOVERNMENT LABOUR MEASURE INTRODUCED. COALITION’S ATTITUDE ASKED. THE REMOVAL OF AN ANOMALY. By Telegraph—Press Association. Wellington, Last Night. In moving for leave to introduce the National Credits and Currency Bill in the House of Representatives to-day Mr. H. G. R. Mason (Lab., Auckland Suburbs) said the purpose of the Bill was to enable the country to control its own currency. He hoped to see New Zealand lead the way in adopting that principle. He appealed to the House to give consideration to the measure which, he claimed, would enable the country to escape from the present ridiculous system of society. Mr. R. Semple (Lab., Wellington East) criticised members of the Government for stating that if Labour were put into power at the next election the people’s pound notes would be no more valuable than the German mark. He urged the Government to put into effect the recommendations of the Monetary Commission. The Rev. Clyde Carr (Lab., Timaru) said the Bill would merely restore to the Crown the prerogative of creating money and credit for the people. ( Mr. Barnard (Lab., Napier) said that sooner or later he was sure the principles embodied in the Bill would be put into practice. Mr. D. G. Sullivan (Lab., Avon) asked the Government to explain if it regarded the proposals of Mr. Mason ,as visionary, impractical and as something that did not correspond with the truth of things. What solution had the Government to offer for the obvious anomaly with which the country was confronted —the problem of poverty in the midst of wealth? The provisions of the Bill would make every family happy, prosperous and comfortable. The Government surely had some views to offer on the subject. Mr. A. S. Richards (Lab., Roskill) said the people of the British Isles were practically free of debt until the Bank of England was granted a charter. Mr. Mason’s Bill would enable goods which were available in plenty to be distributed to those who needed them. Mr. R. McKeen (Lab., Wellington South) said that if money were available for nothing industry could not absorb it because there was not the power available to consume the goods that would be produced. That was the country’s trouble. The Bill was read a first time.