Australia Sir Robert Gibson, the Chairman of the Board of
the Commonwealth Bank, commendably allowing no shade of political opinion to colour his evidence as a financial expert, told the Australian Senate last week that the Bank was not prepared to support the inflationary schemes of Mr. Scullin's Government and the shipment of £5,000,000 of the gold reserve to meet its obligations abroad. His evidence, it is fair to assume, has destroyed what slender chances the Bill had in the Senate. If it should be thrown out, and a general election precipitated, the Government will face an Opposition rendered more formidable by unity. The United Australia Party, with Mr. Lyons as its leader and Mr. Latham with him, already commands wide support, and Mr. Scullin's administration only survived a motion of " no confidence," with the help of the Lang group, by the narrowest and least reliable of margins. The Premier's vague proposals for temporarily converting Parliament into a non-party economic conference are not likely to come to anything, and would scarcely serve any useful purpose if they did. * * *
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