A.—6a

78

With regard to the condition that the moneys which are raised, or the amount upon which interest is guaranteed, shall be determined upon the amount of the; supplies we take from this country, we entirely agree; with that condition, because there would be no reason for your making this proposal to us unless it was going to be of some benefit to you. Of course, in any schemes that we put forward we shall be able to take advantage of your proposals only in so far as we cannot supply our own requirements in our own country. We, are not going to injure our own industrial development in order to get an advantage in interest and place orders in Britain which we could well fill in our own country. Unfortunately, we are not so Industrially developed at this moment that with regard to many of the schemes we have in mind we could contemplate meeting or could hope to meet all our own requirements. To put them through we would have; to go somewhere; to obtain part of the equipment we required. If we can come to Britain, and as the result of coming here get, assistance; in the interest, which will allow us to speed up development very greatly, that, is a thing which we think will be of mutual benefit to both of us. We also like to think that we would be coming here and providing employment, because that would increase your purchasing-power, and we hope that you are going to buy things from us with that increased purchasing-power. So that from every point of view we certainly welcome this scheme greatly, and we are now very anxious to discuss concrete propositions with you, anel see whether an arrangement can be come to to bring the Australian Government and the British Government together. I will be quite frank anil say that I did not really regard this with very much interest before yesterday, because, as I have said, we can only speeel up and press on if at the end of a perioei of five or ten years we can visualize such an increase in our population and such a strengthening of our position that we can carry the additional burden of interest comfortably. But until you shed a ray of hope anel light on the situation yesterday I was very doubtful whether there would be anything we woulel be; able to do. But your having given us that earnest yesterday of your intention to elo everything possible to try and help us in the directiem I suggested, I am fairly confident that there are a number of very sounel schemes we would be able; to put before you which will fulfil all the conditions you are asking for, anel which, if they are put into operation, will greatly help in the development of Australia, and will, I hope, be of considerable assistance to you at a time which you have described as one of very dire distress in Great Britain. On behalf of Australia I welcome the scheme, and say that we will do everything in our power to see if we cannot act with the British Government in regard to it. Colonies' Need of Development. If I might commit perhaps an indiscretion, as 1 certainly did yesterday, I would like to say that we would certainly welcome this scheme from another aspect, and that is we would regard it as being a very wise action to have taken so far as the colonies of the Empire are concerned. We believe it may give them a great opportunity for very considerable expansion, and. I am sure that in the case of your Government this action is not being taken merely because of the necessities of the moment. I believe it is being taken through true statesmanship also —that you do wish to try to bring the colonies to.the fullest state of development possible. I think I may say, on behalf of Australia, that we are not epuite convinced that some action of this sort so far as the colonies—l am not for the moment talking of the self-governing Dominions —are concerned might not have been taken at an earlier date, because we do sometimes look at our own great countries and what we have been able to do with them with our own powers of self-government —I agree it is an impertinence —but sometimes the self-governing Dominions do commit the impertinence of wondering whether the colonies are developing quite as fast under the rule they enjoy as under the rule which you have been good enough to give us. Advance of Interest would accelerate New Zealand's Development Schemes. Mr. Massey : Like the previous speakers, Mr. President, I agree that the representatives of the oversea countries who are here to-day, each and every one, must look at this matter from the, point of view of the country to which he belongs. Now, I believe that great good may result from the scheme. I welcome it unreservedly. I believe New Zealand will welcome it ; I am sure it will, and I believe if it is brought into operation it will do a lot of good, not only in developing the country, but also to Great Britain itself. T believe it will elo good at both ends of the; world—if I may put it that way. As far as the actual provision of money is concerned, I am happy to say that our credit is quite good, and for the last few years we have had no difficulty at all in raising the amount of borrowed capital which we required. As a matter of fact, I think lam not boasting in saying that we are able to get money just as cheaply in London as the Chancellor of the Exchequer himself, and that is saying a very great deal. I hope it will continue. Going further, I speak of New Zealand as a developing country, and we are developing just as rapidly as we can manage. This will help us to develop more rapidly, and that is an important point. I would like to be clear on this point: While I say, so far as obtaining the actual cash is concerned, we can do pretty well —I do not think it will be necessary to come to the British Government itself —the assistance in the way of interest is quite a different matter, and I should be; glad to hoar something more definite with regard to that. Instances of Undertakings in New Zealand likely to Benefit. You will understand what I mean when I say what we are doing. I have already referred to the schemes for developing hydro-electricity. We have a number of these; schemes on hand at present. Local bodies have some, and on the whole 1 think we may look forward to spending, including what has been spent in the, last two or three years on hydro-electricity, probably not less than £15,000,000. There is plenty of running water in the Dominion, and plenty of opportunity for using it for the purposes of electricity. Then, our railways are not nearly complete. We have between three thousand and four thousand miles of railway, and New Zealand is not the easiest country in the worlel in whie-li