MAJOR PROBLEMS

Evening Post, Volume CVIII, Issue 134, 3 December 1929, Page 12

MAJOR PROBLEMS

CO-OPEBATION WAFTED

AUSTRALIA AND NEW ZEALAND

"The major problems of Australia and New Zealand are the pro'Mems.of the Pacific; and I think it would not be a baS idea if the Rotary Clubs; of Wellington and Melbourne— two of the most respectable Eotary Clufc.s I know (laughter)—were each to establish what I may call a Common Intei ests Committee, to act in conjunction with one another and try to eneoura, - c and en7aprgi 6 *. Tf r things in Iv'hich Zealand and Australia have common in'e[efs'! lus P^Bg in the S hade those minor things—for lam sure they are only minor things-in which their inland, and also between th<'Ee two DoITilHiii 8 Tl tUV Dominion of Canada and all white nations bordering on and interested in the Pacific.'•• Such in brief, was the burden of the address given by Sir W. Lennon Eaws attor ney for Australia and N a w Zealand of the Impenal Chemical In, lustries Ltd ) as chief guest at the Wei] ington Eotary Club luncheon this after, 10 on. He hoped, he added, to see th, 3 relations between Australia and New Zealand as countries become as friendly and corueorT WW? tj l. e. r/ latio» between the[r peoples as individuals. The possibility of a British Empire Esonomie Union might seem somewhat remote at the present tune; but he Ait 1 think that ultimate y we ought to be, able to achieve something like an economic union be tween Australia ajwl New Zealand. At present you tax -our wheat and we tax your butter," he remarked; "and living. . Everj body agrees that c must «duce the cost of living and the cost of production in Australia: and everybody agro es, too, that it is the other fellow who must do the reducing (Laughter.) And the smile which accompanied I. he words made good the point that no do übt the position was much the same in J sew Zealand. "The that J" U M,o' * Sai)pose ' in Australia, that we W!ll eventually have nothing that is not protec ted by a bonus or S prohibitive tanff, then the whole thing will collapse and we will have a chance of a rest and a return to sanity." (Laughter and a' pplause.)