EXCHANGE POLICY

Evening Post, Volume CXVII, Issue 73, 27 March 1934, Page 11

EXCHANGE POLICY

LABOUR CRITICISM

ADDRESS BY ;mR. MCKEEN

~ Condemnation .of tho Government's high exchange policy was expressed by Mr. B. McKeen, M.P.. for Wellington South, in an address to a well-attended meeting at TJpper Hutt last evening. He .said that it was time that the real .position was disclosed to the people, who had a right to know the liabilities" ■of the Dominion as the result of the Government's action. .'.-"".

Mr. McKeen said that, after fifteen months' experience of the high Exchange Tate, there was ample evidence of its disastrous effects .upon every section of the community. There were now-surplus credits in London amounting to approximately £24,000,000,: and the cost'of indemnifying' the; banks against losses was placing a huge load on the shoulders of the community. The; Government -could, not ignore any longer the extremely serious situation which had arisen as the result of the accumulating losses on excess (credits. The Government's refusal to allow tho 25 per cent. bonus to .be paid on capital imported into the Dominion showed the dilemma it was in. Why did not the Government face Up to the position and frankly tell the country the actual loss and how it was prepared to meet it? Surely such an important matter should not be kept secret. . Added to this position, said Mr. -McKeen, was the demand by tho dairying industry for a subsidy of 2d per lb on_ butter-fat. That would mean on this season's output a grant of £3,000,000, and even with this help .the dairy farmer would not be placed in a,sound position., The granting of a subsidy would not solve the position, either for the present or tho future. ■What was.wanted was a'stable internal .price for. internal production, and that was what the Labour Party offered to the farmers. Already there were many farmers' who had grasped the proposals of the Labour Party, and the demand for such a policy was growing -rapidly. The whole seherne was linked up with a banking policy which would keep in step with an age of plenty.