Committee on rural indebtedness, 1934

Component identifier:

Series 30

Content Summary:

Copland joined a group inquiring into rural debt in March 1934, at the invitation of the Federal Treasurer R.G. Casey, and Prime Minister J.A. Lyons. The committee members were Sir Charles Nathan (chairman), Copland, M.A. Ferguson, W. Sydney Jones, C.A. Norris, and J.W. Eddy. They were subsequently joined by Sir Walter Massy Greene. Meeting At Cliveden Mansions in Melbourne between March and May 1934, they examined State legislation, statistics, and the evidence of Sir Herbert Gepp's Royal Commission into the Wheat Industry, and by late May had presented their report. In the following year their basic recommendations were enacted as the Loan (Farmers' Debt Adjustment) Act.

Series 30 provides some evidence of the committee's activities and of Copland's contribution. Included are some correspondence (including letters from Casey, Lyons, and Casey's Secretary W.I. Potter), the draft report and opinions on it, summaries of State legislation, statistics, and some cuttings. In particular, there are typed copies of minutes recording the discussion of the committee from the first meeting on 26 March to the final one on 26 May.

Immediate source of acquisition:

Lady Copland presented the personal papers of Sir Douglas Copland to the National Library in September 1973. Additions to the collection were received from the Copland Family between 1977 and 1981.

Names:

Copland, D.B. (Douglas Berry), 1894-1971

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