The Auckland Star: WITH WHICH ARE INCORPOEATED The Evening News, Morning News and The Echo. SATURDAY, DECEMBER 30, 1922. OLD YEAR AND NEW.

Auckland Star, Volume LIII, Issue 309, 30 December 1922, Page 6

The Auckland Star: WITH WHICH ARE INCORPOEATED The Evening News, Morning News and The Echo.

SATURDAY, DECEMBER 30, 1922. OLD YEAR AND NEW.

For the cause that lacks assistant*. For the wrong that need* resistant. For the future in the distend. And the good that use em mo.

•For a thousand years in thy sight, says the Psalmist, -are but as yesterday when it is past, and a. a watch in the night.- The year, the fad ng of which causes a tightening of the heart in so many frail and transitory mortal,, is but a tiny division of time >n the procession of the ages. Nature works in millions of years. History s entire range 1. but a moment compared with the lapse of geological or astronomical time, yet the processes of the rise and fall of nations and Empires are often spread over centuries. A year is a natural division of time that divides the brief life of man into convenient period*, at the end and beginning of which he is accustomed to think about his past ami his future. The horizon of that thought is limited by his circumstances and the restricted power of his imagination. One of the keenest intellects in England today, deprecating the short view, bids us think in thousands of years. This may be possible to the philosopher, but it is hardly practicable for the average man, whose main concern is with the business of living either for the day or for the rest of the brief and uncertain period permitted him on earth. Even the statesman cannot look more than a few decades ahead, and it is one of the criticisms directed against the Versailles Treaty that it tries to fix arrangements for a time so long that years before th e md is reached conditions may be fundamentally different. What is near is necessarily the main subject of action and reflection. The ending of the old year and the beginning of the new is a time for material, mental and moral stocktaking, self-questioning, and overhaul of plans. Writing a year ago we noted the confused, exhausted, and distracted state ol the world in 1021, but took from sucti events as the success of the Washington Conference and the Irish Treaty a promise of hope. In certain grave respects that promise has not been fulfilled During the past year war clouds banked up in the Near East, and the defeat of the Greeks in Asia Minor set Europe face to face again with the old

Turkish problem in a new form. Britain was within an ace of being at war with Turkey, and at the time of writing the peril is by no means out of sight. The i Lausanne Conference finds the Turks j ready to push the European Powers to j the extreme limit of patience, and what- j ever is the outcome the grim fact will | remain that the Turk has fought his | way buck to Europe, to continue to be a i menace to peace and progres*. Still more [ perilous, however, is the general state lof Europe—the failure to settle the i I ' reparations and debts problems, the I possibility of France taking physical action against Germany, the bankruptcy of Austria, the sinking of Germany towards the same level, and the con- | tinued exhaustion of Russia. Most | colonials, we fear, fail to realise the tremendous possibilities in a situation compounded of poverty, weariness, suspicion, jealousy, and fear. Students of J history and affairs openly discuss the i possibility that the world has reached I I one of its great peaks of effort and that i i civilisation U on tlve decline, that this ' generation or the next may witness a state of affairs in Europe comparable with the conditions produced by the j . break-up of the Roman Empire. A sort \ of creeping death has come upon Russia: J what will be the state of Europe if it i I spreads westward? Several reasons! J could be given for thinking that such an I extension will not occur, but the longer the Allies disagree among themselves about European reconstruction, and the : I'nited States holds aloof, the darker the prospect. The comforting thought is that, as the "Manchester Guardian" says in discussing this peril to civilisation itself, the dange.r lies not in any inscrutable laws of Nature or economics, ': but in man's mistakes. Man, if he will, can save civilisation. Fortunately there are brighter spots in the heavens. Xot only is the League of Nations not dead, but it has strengthened its position durI ing the year. The sentiment against war increases ratlu-r than diminishes. The I'nited State* seems to be moving towards a policy of participation in European affairs, though one must bear in mind that this mighty country may lie hampered in its foreign influence by its domestic troubles. What with I strikes, industrial depression, and in- ■* create in lawlessness, the American nation has had a very difficult year. *j Britain, the most powerful force in the I European system —and. indeed, in the

I word—on tlie side of moderation. I toleration, and international friendship, i finds herself at the end of another trying I year in a stron2er position than twelve I months tefore. Her difficulties are still I grave, but she is facinpr them with resoI lution and courage. The fall of Mr I Lloyd George put an ctvi to the unI natural and unsatisfactory Coalition • 'abiiiet. and the election strengthened the institution of representative fiovernment. aft«>r a period in which it had been seriouelv weakened in

popular esteem. Nor must we forget that the treaty with Ireland has beeu ratified, and that the new- Irish Government is gradually asserting its authority over its Republican enemies. All parts of the Empire have had their share of general and special difficulties. South Africa experienced a revolutionary outbreak, enfjineered by which was suppressed with satisfactory swiftness and deserved severity. In India the imprisonment of Gandhi de prived the extremists of their chief and unapproached leader, and the general outlook to-day wems to be brighter than it was a year ago. The political relations between Motherland and Dominions remains as they were, and nothing lias been done to define more clearly the very unsatisfactory position in respect to Imperial defence. The response from the Dominions ivhen the risk of war in the Near East was believed to be grave provided a fresh illustration of their readiness to help Britain, but the in- ! judicious manner of the British Government's public appeal was severely criticised, and did a good deal of harm oversea. Australia and New Zealand experienced a year of difficult readjustment, and curiously enough both held elections at the end of it, and in both cases a condition of uncertain political equilibrium has been produced. Probably New Zealand has never had a more anxious year, at least not in the memory of this generation. Huge public expenditure, inflated land values, falling prices of primary products, retrenchment in botii public services and private affairs, and readjustment of wa£e->, were features of the time, which was marie all the more I trying by the failure of the Government

and individuals to meet difficulties when conditions had been more favourable. In spite of the shipping trouhle, it ma)- be said that lowering of wages has been accomplished smoothly. How much I longer this period of comparative depresi sion will last is uncertain. Experience shows that after a great wnr recovery is slow. Fortunately duri/.g the year prices of exports improved, and tlie prospects for 1023 are much brighter j than they were for 10-22, but a note of | caution may be timely. It will probably take years for the oountry to recover fully from the effects of its orgy of private and public expenditure, and the unwisdom of postponing moratorium settlements and interfering with contracts. Furthermore, it cannot b<? asserted too emphatically that our prosperity depends upon Britain's, and ; Britain's in turn upon the general state lof tlie world, and particularly Europe. | I Politically the year has been notable for ] I the reaction against the Government at the elections, when its majority disappeared. The future Is ! with the radical elements in the country lif they know how to use their oppor- ■ tunity. The country is. we trust, over the worst of its economic troubles, and the New Year should be faced with I courage and hope, combined, however, • I with a clear-sighted realisation of tha j ! difficulties which circumstances both j

beyond and within local control have bequeathed the Dominion. It is in the optimism of knowledge and determine- I tion, and not the optimism of ignorance j and cowardice, that the coming time , should be faced, and witb this message j we take leave of the past and wish our j readers "A Happy New Year.' , i