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suggested that there are limits to what even a large group of countries can do to raise their own price level if the trend of prices in the outside world is persistently downward. There are some, perhaps, who might not accept that view. There can be no doubt that if a practical international scheme designed to secure a recovery of world prices could be evolved, it would be the most effective means of achieving our objective. Whenever international action, however, is suggested, those talking of it appear to visualize a great Conference of the nations at which unanimity would be achieved and from which immediate results would flow. It appears to me difficult to contemplate a Conference of so successful a character in the present position of the world. But I suggest there are other ways of achieving our objective than by such a Conference. If a definite lead were given at the present time I am certain that it would be followed by other countries. Great Britain is obviously best equipped to give that lead. There are signs in France, still more signs in the United States, that if Britain gave a lead to the Empire and to other countries off gold, it would be paralleled and strengthened by similar action amongst those still on the gold standard. I believe that a definite declaration of their policy by the British Government and the maturing of plans already put in hand would have a tremendous effect and would quite probably turn indecision into confidence and give strength to deep-seated forces already at work. The rise in sterling prices which will come from the action I have indicated will carry us towards a level increasingly consistent with a restored internatonal standard. The dominant problem during the period of rising prices will be the appropriate parities between sterling and other currencies including those of the Dominions. These will not be attained if they are sought in a spirit of strident economic nationalism. They can only be attained by careful management of the exchange rates. We have paper currencies, and whether we like it or not, we must manage them. We shall do so well or ill, as we succeed or fail in our judgments of economic trends. The task is a complex one that calls for close co-operation between central banks. In Dominions where central banks do not yet exist, it may be necessary to set up autonomous boards charged with the management of, their exchanges. These boards would be first steps towards central banks. The central banks would be co-operating' to bring us back to an international standard that will work. In this connection the Hon. the Leader of the South African Delegation may be right when he claims that stable exchanges are a necessity to commerce. On his part he will no doubt admit that a reasonably stable measure of value is a necessity for the production, without which there can be no commerce. We know all too well the poverty in the midst of plenty that has mocked our increased capacity to produce during the fall in prices. It is this that has deranged commerce and thrown the exchanges into confusion. Some may accuse Australia of too rough an energy in her struggle to pay her debts. Be it so. I should prefer conviction on such a charge to responsibility for the appreciation in the purchasing power of money and for the slow paralysis of trade. We have at least avoided that infection. We have produced more heavily than ever before and marketed our products as we went. They have gone into current consumption, feeding and clothing both East and West. With this growing trade, no one will welcome stable exchanges more than we will if they come with higher prices. But any attempt to restore stable exchanges without a tolerable level of prices would be a mockery. A true international standard must give us stability of prices both in place and in time. By that I mean that we need currencies stable in their relations all round the world. We need, even more sorely, money that will enable a debt contracted in one year to be repaid by a comparable service when it falls due in another. If out of the present universal distress we can learn something of the art of reconciling these two stabilities we may yet extract from adversity a lesson of unrivalled value. Perhaps that reconciliation is not so difficult. Even now, the way to it may be clearing. In conclusion I recognize that anything that Australia or any other Dominion can do in relation to this great problem is relatively unimportant. The influence of action by Great Britain, however, cannot be exaggerated. We trust that Great Britain will make a definite declaration of her policy and give us and to the whole world the lead which she alone can give.