Australia's Recovery Australia, like Great Britain, has made an heroic
effort to put her finances in order. It is most encouraging to find from Mr. Lyons' Budget Speech that the Commonwealth, as distinct from the States, is now well on the way to recovery. The financial year ending with June was expected by the late Labour Ministry to show a deficit of 11,148,000. • Thanks to severe economies it has, in fact, yielded a surplus of £1,314,000. We must note that, under Mr. Hoover's moratorium, the Commonwealth has not paid us the war loan interest, amounting to nearly £5,000,000. She is vitally con- cerned, no less than ourselves, in the question whether the moratorium will be prolonged, and for how long. Apart from this, Australia's achievement is remarkable, for without new taxes a small surplus is anticipated for the current year. One satisfactory step is the abolition of the prohibitions and some of the surcharges, prim- ages and other devices which have made the high Australian tariff one of the worst obstructions to trade that the world has ever seen. The duties on cotton and woollen gods have been halved and the duties on certain classes of iron and steel wares and engines have been lowered. With these and the undisclosed con- cessions promised at Ottawa, trade with Australia should rapidly increase, instead of being stifled.
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