A GREAT RECEPTION

Hokitika Guardian, 28 April 1931, Page 6

A GREAT RECEPTION

ACCORDED TO MR LYONS. CHEERED TO THE ECHO. (Australian Press Association.) . Received this day vt. 9.40 a.m.) SYDNEY, April 28. Not for many years has a political leader received such a tumultous reception as that accorded to Air Lyons by three thousand five hundred people who filled every portion of Sydney Town Hall. About three thousand were unable to gain admission anti heard the speech through amplifiers, outside the hall. Air Lyons said the Federal Treasurer (Mr Theodore) apparently contended that the risks of the Commonwealth Bank’s insolvency and consequent ruination of its customers should be incurred, so that Government might con. tiime to spend more than it received. T he size of the gathering indicated the conscience of the people was aroused said Air Lyons. 'There was. a disorganised rabble in the Labour Party, each faction voicing with the other in the concoction of more and more fantastic schemes. Its leaders, in time of national peril, had saeriliged the work of reconstruction, to a sordid scramble for place and power. He refused to be an accomplice in plans that would lead wage earners into the wilderness of currency inflation. The Government had no more right to demand excessive financial assistance from the banks, than to demand it individually from private citizens whose funds the banks were safeguarding. Air Lyons added that he believed (here should be a sound tariff policy with effective preference to Great Britain and inter-Dominion reciprocity. The audience repeatedly rose and cheered him to the echo.