26 DECEMBER 1931, Page 2

Mr. Scullin resigned office on Monday, and Mr. Lyons was

invited by the Governor-General to form a Ministry. Mr. Lyons has made it perfectly clear that his policy is " fundamentally Protectionist," but that he will be ready to discuss " a great extension of reciprocal tariff agreements " with Great Britain. His main object is " to make Australia again an attractive and safe field for the investment of money." That, of course, implies a revival of confidence in Australian Governments as well as in Australian banks. It also implies a modification of the fantastically onerous and self-destructive tariff with which the Labour Government has experimented during the last two years, for new loans must take the form of goods of some kind or other.