AUSTRALIANS PRESSING FOR REVALUATION OF CURRENCY

Wanganui Chronicle, 9 September 1950, Page 5

AUSTRALIANS PRESSING FOR REVALUATION OF CURRENCY

Rising Costs Must Be Offset; Pound Causing Split In Government

SYDNEY, Sept. 8 (Rec. 6 p.m.).—An increasing body of opinion is demanding that the Federal Government take immediate action to oft'het sharp rises in the cost of living which have been accelerated by the recent record wool prices. Revaluation of the Australian I pound to parity with sterling is still a prime favourite among, methods of achieving this end. Many members of the Govern-! ment and some Ministers are convinced that the bold action of revaluation, taken without delay and without regard for political consequences would have nothing but beneficial result.

Repeated i-eferences have been made in the newspaper correspondence columns lately to the New Zealand experience since revaluation. Among those who believe Australia would be wise to follow New Zealand is Mr Brent H. Evans, secretary of the Joint Committee for Tariff Revision, who produces figures published by the Statistical Office of the United Nations to prove that whereas the New Zealand cost of living index increased by only three points between August, 1943, and March, 1950, Australian costs rose by 22 points in the same period. In the general wholesale price indices, taking 184 as a base in August, 1948, New Zealand showed no increase at March this year, whereas the Australian and United" Kingdom indices stood at 224 and 205 respectively. Mr Evans believes that though New Zealand costs have risen slightly in the last two years revaluation has ensured that no fantastic increase has occurred such as is apparent in Australia

Value is draining out of the Australian pound at a rate which is disturbing to economists and catastrophic to housewives. "If, as the Government asserted at the December elections, the Chifley pound was worth only 10s,” comments a correspondent in the Sydney "Sun,”