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MR. FARRAR IN FORMl
What Nationalism has Done
MR. LANG AND HIS LOANS
SThe Minister for Labour and Industry, Mr. Farrar, spo ke
last night for a couple,of hours in the Broadway Theatre.
There was a large and attentive audience, with a good rhany
Labour supporters. The meeting throughout was an orderlywone
and there were few iriterjections. These were promptly dealt
with.
The -Mayor presided and briefly introduded tie speaker, wo
lost no time In getting to grips with his subject.
'On October. 25 the electors will
have to do the most important duty
they have yet had to perform," he
said. '!The. whole of the world, in
eluding Australia and New South
Wales, is passing throngh a deprea
sion." In Australia we are a people
who export a large amount of wealth,
and our population is not large enough
to consume what we produce. In the
past we have borrowed money to ipro
duce these goods. Our borrowings
hove ranged from £10,000,OO to
£50,000,000 per annum, and, with the
balance of trade against us. it is im
possible for us to borrow more. The
money we borrow gave employment
to many thousands, and when the
loans ceased many thousands becanme
unemployed; that was inevitable. On
top of the loan money falling short,
-our exports have fallen in price-wool
byvi 0 per cent., wheat to 274; miner?
:hls! and dalhy produce have all. gohl
down :We have lost £10,000,000 In the
price of goods.
£90,000,000 LESS.
'There are £90,000.000 less for"
Ihe Aulstralian people to divide -
.among thepmselves.
'iThe problem can be solved only by
dividing the income among the people
o thle best of our ability. WVe 'bav6
to:live within our income.
"We have borrowed £700,000,000
from iabroad; £200,000,000 is. New
South Wales' share, and that has
been.fundede. 'here are people to-day
on the public platform saying that, we
should repudiate those debts: The
Labour Council and tile A.L.P. Execu
tive carried resolutions of repudia
tion which. if carried out. would have
held us up to disgrace and, in addi
tion. created more difficulties and
more unemployment. If we act in a
statesmanlike manner, as. decided at
the Melbourne Conference, we can
see daylight. (Applause.)
A LABOUR MINISTER
"On the information received from
MIr. Theodore, then Federal Treas
irer. the Government of N.S.W. acted
Immediately. As irepresentative of the
Loan Council, the Federal Treasurer
of .the Federal Labour Government,
a post now occupied by Mr. Lyons,
Mr. Theodore goes on the loan market
and::divides the share among .thei
States on the allocation. .That has
been the policy for two and a half
years. The man who haF: tailed to
raise the loan is the Federal' Treas
urer of a Labour Governnoent.. I will
be fair and say that no onlle else
would be able to raise a loan.
MR. LANG AGR'EES i
"Just before Lang went olt.. of offico
in 1)927, at a Premiers' Conference,
Mr. Lang agreed with tille Premiers.
aild the Prime Minister to tile prin-l
ciple of the Loanl Council He:realised
the time wai fast expiring when six
State Governments allnd theiFederal
Government colld go onthe market
ahd compete with eacll other:; sending
Iup tlle:interest rate. ' . ...
"Tile favin Government, when it
came into power. recognlised that thei\
financial agreement for a Loan Counl
cil vas a statesmanlike act, and we
il-ased it 1into law. All thile Govern- I
mentsI carried the Act whlch; is em-'
lbodied ill' thle Federal Constitution to
day.- .
"Mr. Lang is bound by that con
stitutibn. He knows the position,
and that it is impossibleifor him
.to act without regarding that con
stitution. .
"Thile Loan Council hIlas tlhe plower,
but cannlllot borrow. Inll tile past money'
Ias been borrowed, hut1 Ino moneyhllas
actually everl come inlto Australia;:
The State receives a credlts '-What,
lhappelns is a trallnsfer.'of goods.: This
gives I. a credit lhei'e.andrenable usn
to operatel hlere:. We are to-day ii
delit, not in credit.". ': ':'"i
Thel speakeir went on to explain tilhe
operation bf :deblt's and credits abroad.
Our .goods .were sold abroad, hid the
baniks: in: England pay the people whoi
send goods out here.
'Itt.is impossible for Mr. Lang to
borrow and bring wealth into Aus
tralia. The Federal Governmeilt tried
emblrgo on goods. Thllat failed, and
£24-1.000,000 inll sosereigns has been
sent to try and bIring about a Gatisfac
tory balance. ' i
S"Amnlerica has not bieen able to lend.
Ius anythling because we are a'debtor.
Thiey have sent cars, petrol and the
talkies, hult they callnnot. get their
money hack, and we are riot'sending
goods enough-to make up thile differ
ence. So American credit hlere has
been used for loans.'
INFLATION OF NOTE ISSUE -,
"Thk'e Germany as a country which
inflated-her note issue. She did so
yGith the result that the mark wenit
down -in depreciation. Overnight it
cost you 5000 marks to buy a ham
sandwich. It cannot be done. A large
number of Federal Labour members
are advocating inflation of the note
issue, but. the Federal Government is
against it.
"As for Mr, Lang's.qther promise,
borrowing internially, he can only bor
row our savings. Those savings go
into the bank, and the people own
thela. The bank lets *those savings
out to industry.
!'It had been pointed put that a re
cent load was over-subscribed. So it
was. It was over-subscribed because
of the depression! The people said,
'I won't put my money into shares,
which are toppling down; I will put
it into Government stocks. We re
ceived £3,250,000, and the Government
Savings Bank's credits were depleted
to the extent of £2,250,000. That.has
reduced the power of the Government
Savings Bank to advance money to
the farmers and to the buildings for
working-men's homes.
"The result inevitably was' to in
Screase unemployment.
"That is an instance of local bor
rowing. If the Government takltes
millions, then there are so many mil
lions less for private enterprise. In
Australia we have £40,000,000 in loans
maturing which have to be found.
That money-will not be available for
new. debts.
"Mr. Lang can no more alter those
positions than any other man. I am
surprised at a man standing on a pub
Ifc platform making wild extravagant
promises when he must kinow they
cannot be fulfilleld.
TURNED DOWN
"When Mr. Bavin explained tile po
sition he invited all, no malter Wvhat
party, to assist In solving it. Mr.
Lang flippantly threw his hands in
the air and said, 'There is no depres
sion; it has been simply manufactur
ed by Mr. Bavin and the capitalists;'
South -Australia. would have been
bankrupt but for the other States
coming to their assistance. Had that
ndt been done the South Australian
Government would not have had the
money to, pay the civil servants and
the railway employees.
"The volume of trade fell away;
when the loans were not available,
men were put off, and when they
could not buy the thfngs they were
,accustomed to, factories, stopped.
"In the pul.lic servants they had a
body of mern in a position where they
had no concern about the price of
wool. The farmer had already lost
his ,50 per cent. and more. The Go
vernment asked members of the Pub
lic Service to take an 8 1-3 cut and to
agree to a rationing system. This
was done to prevent dismissals. Pri
vate employees had already been
asked to accept rationing for a consld
erable time. Thile bill was passed.
"The first was a bill to reduce onr
own salaries, comnmencing with the
Ministers 15 per cent. and 10 per cent.
off the miembers. (Applause.)
"The Ftuller Government did the
same, and when Mr. Lang got there
he put them back again. He will do
the same again if you give hint thile op.
portunity.
"We have reduced them again, and
if there are to be any more cuts. we
start on ourselves dgaln. (Chieets.)
"Mr. Lang, Mr. Tully, every
Labour man opposed it.. Every
man on the Laohr platform, his
heart bleading for the unemploy
ed, voted against it.
"We estimated by the 3d tax on the,
earnings and salaries of everybody to
find work for the unemuloyed.
"On your 121l ser cent. union levy
they must have got many hundreds of
thousands, perhaps a million pounds,
for the coal andi timber strikes; but
you have never had a balanceasheetl
RESULT IN GOULBURN
"Of that 3d tax money Goulburn
has had three allocations. , Over £8000
has been giveni to the niunicipality
and another £3000 is being spent on
your roads. I made enquiries to-day,
and over .100 men in Goulburn Muni
cipality have received benefit."
Cries of "No "
Mr. Farrar: Are these figures right,
Mr. Mayor-I got them from your en
gineer? .
The Mayor: Absolutely' correct
(Applause.3
Mr. Farrar: Those 400 mfn would
have been out of employsient but foi
thle action of the Bavin Government.
(Applause.) In addition. £3000 hlas
been lent you for the retculatlon.
RESULTS OF ACT
"Thle Act came into operhtidn only
on July 1. and since then w' have
been, able to do that ill Goulburn
alone. Every shire and municipality
has had a similar allocation.
"We have been able to find work
in New South Wales for (p2,000
men. And that is not a pr6mise,
like Mr. Lang's; it is an accom
plishment. (Applause.)
"Thle Act gave the Minister power
to suspend any award if thought desir
able. Last night I went to an execu
tive meeting to fix the job so that an
other thousand men couhld be em;
ployed to-morrow. (Cheers.).
44 HOURS
"When Mr. Lang brought itn 44
hours some people thought they got
a benefit. All that he did was to put
the price of goods up. That added
cost had to be put on. It pitt New
South Wales into the position of not
being able to compete with thq other
States. That meant one month out
of the working time,in the year. It
meant you worked for eleven months
while your competitors worked for
twelve months. It meant uinemploy
menit.
THE RAILWAYS
"The railways we have not had tile
Dower to balance because they were
controlled by the Federal Arbitration
Court.
"About half were . under State
awards and about half under Federal
awardls. The former we'.wbr5lible to
vary and pay our way. Mr. Cleary
asked Mr. Chapman, of the A:R.U,
to meet him and help him wvith a
rationing offer. They refused and
said, 'We stick to our Federal qvard.'
There was no alternative but to dis
miss the men. Then foiur States
two Labour and two Nationalist Go
vernments-went to the Full Court of
three Judges, who have suspended all
the Federal awards except., the 48
hour~s and thle basic wage. The Rail
way Commissioner left last night for
Melbourne to consult with the other
Commissioners and tile union execu.i
tives. He will offer them a ratoldning
Cont!nued on Page Thre .

S.MR:. FARRAR
Continudd from Page Two,
agreement,; as he did bdhforoe. If they
accept that,-. Mr. Cleary wll be able
to put back those 500 men who were
retrenchled because of the action of
their -own union leaders. (Great ap
platise.) . It is better to do it that way
than to sack some and givo-those
that are left full pay.
•"Mr. Hogan, the Labour Premier,
said to a Labour Conference, 'We.have
to sack 1500 ment.or do these things.
The other Way is td ration tlhem so
that everybody sllares. There is. a
third way, and that is to keep them
otl until the money runs out'.'- They
turned down tihe proposal, and Mr
Hogan, with New South Wales and
the others, went to the Federal Court.
The decision on Saturday was the
result.
"We were compelled to do it be
cause tllere was no mnloney. If Mr.
Lang canll get the money, why does he
not tell Mr. Scullin where it can be
done.
"The Federal Government was
about to cut down salaries in the same
way that the N.S.W. Government had
done it. The same had been. done in
South Australia and. Victoria. If it
was right for them, wily was it wrong
for Barvln to do it?
"What Mr. Lang can do is to de
stroy our credit if the people are fool
ish enough to believe his promises.
It will only make it worse for New
South Wales if you put him there."
(Great applause.)
A vote of thankts was- moved by Mr.
W. J. Bartlett, seconded by- Ald.' Good
hew, and carried. A vote of thanks
to the chairman concluded the pro
coedlings. . ;

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