Public finance, 1925-1928

Component identifier:

Series 31

Content Summary:

This series contains many printed papers collected by Latham, including speeches by Earle Page, S. M. Bruce and Latham on the Budgets of 1925-1926, 1926-1927 and 1927-1928 and the 1926 and 1927 States Grants Bills, the report of the 1925 Royal Commission on the Finances of Western Australia as affected by Federation (Chairman: W. G. Higgs), Budget papers and other parliamentary papers, speeches by Page on the 1927 Financial Agreement, an address by Russell Cooke on Australian finance (December 1927), Sir William McPherson's Reasons for voting against the financial agreements, and a paper on the establishment of a common sinking fund for the repayment of the internal and external debts of the Australian States. There are also rough drafts of the 1927 Financial Agreement, a proposed scheme for the transfer of State debts, notes on surplus and tax revenue, papers on per capita payments, and financial tables. Finally, there are a few cuttings and some letters from Sir Edward Mitchell, Sir Alexander Peacock, F. W. Eggleston and others dealing with public finance.

Comprises Files 1-6 (Items 1-206). Newscuttings in Folder 6 have not been assigned item numbers.

Immediate source of acquisition:

The bulk of the collection was presented to the National Library by Sir John Latham in December 1963, a few months before his death. In November 1974 the Library purchased some further papers from a secondhand book dealer. They comprised family letters and photographs, some diaries and papers relating to the High Court. These papers have been amalgamated into the original collection.

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