AMERICA IS GOING AUSTRALIA’S WAY.

Star (Christchurch), Issue 19240, 29 November 1930, Page 1

AMERICA IS GOING AUSTRALIA’S WAY.

WILL SHORTLY HAVE TO REAP WHIRLWIND, TOO. (United Press Assn.—By Electric Telegraph.—Copyright.) NEW YORK, November 27. “ Though Australia cannot afford a Commissioner-General in the United States, the retiring incumbent of that office finds that he cannot leave 1 America without indulging in the luxury of a few homely observations,” says Mr Herbert Brookes in a farewell statement published in the “ New York Times.” He referred particularly to those tendencies that draw the British Empire and the United States closer together in love, peace and cultural interests, yet pulled them apart in conflict in their viewpoints on international, economic and political cooperation. “My wife and I are not likely to forget the friends we have made in the United States,” said Mr Brookes. “We understand and love the spirit of America. While being deeply loyal to the Empire and the Throne, we consider the United States our spiritual home, and for this reason we consider every manifestation unworthy of America as not American, and we long for the day when she will hold the true leadership in a world leadership that will ease the burdens of the world. There has been some talk of a policy of trying to extricate yourselves by becoming more self-contained than ever, and of retaining the high standards of the past by living on your own kidney fat. Such is the advice o& some politicians. “Australia is undergoing probably the most serious depression of the country’s history. We are suffering and are to suffer more, but I cannot stress too much the fact that the seriousness is for the Australian people themselves, not for those who invested in the country’s future by purchasing Government securities. Australia will carry on.” A Warning. Mr Brookes warned his readers against reports from Australia. The affairs depicted were family disputes and were not an indication of depletion of the country’s resources. lie asserted that Australians would build their future on an ideal plan. “Shall I tell you what is wrong with Australian and American affairs?” he asked, “and what is wrong with American and British affairs?. There is in America a political isolationist force which is nationally minded and exclusionist. There is also another force which is internationally minded and inclusionist. The first builds America’s tariffs and hems her in on all sides by barriers seeking to make her too narrowly self-contained; the 'other group finds itself restricted and held back by the first. It is the ‘little American’ who, by means of internal inflation and closing American markets to foreign goods, is to a considerable degree responsible for the conditions the present world-wide depression. \\ e in Australia should be the last to cast a stone since our house was built in a great measure in brittle glass, which we thought could not be shattered. We lifted prices in the same way, and main tained those prices by money from borrowed capital. For twelve years both countries have staved off the inevitable Now, however, Australia for some time has been reaping the whirlwind. The United States are really only beginning to feel the effects of the violations of economic laws.”

ROYAL COMMISSION TO DECIDE BASIC WAGE. FEDERAL GOVERNMENT ORDERS INVESTIGATION. <United Press Assn.—By Electric Telegraph.—Copyright. > CANBERRA, November 2S. The Commonwealth Statistician. Mr Wickens, has been appointed Royal Commisisoner to inquire into the basicwage for a man, his wife and three children/ as announced in the House yesterday. Bank Bill Denounced. In the House of Representatives the Income Tax Assessment Bill was passed. The report of the Senate Select Committee on the Central Reserve Bank Bill, sponsored by Mr E. G. Theodore, denounces the measure as making possible the exercise of undue political influence, and the adoption of unsound practices. Drastic amendments are re- j commended. J