SANE OUTLOOK.

Auckland Star, Volume LXIII, Issue 137, 11 June 1932, Page 9

SANE OUTLOOK.

BRITAIN'S RECOVERY.

Position Sounder Than Any Other Nation's. WORLD CO-OPERATION NEEDED. (British Official Wireless.) (Received 12 noon.) RUGBY, June 10. The Chancellor of the Exchequer, Mr. Neville Chamberlain, made an important speech on the third" reading of the Finance Bill, which was passed in the House of Commons by 409 votes to 34. The difficulties at present being j encountered, he said, were common to \ every country and were not going to be solved in any finance bill introduced in this country alone. Co-operation between the nations was necessary, and indeed was the only way in which a solution of the prevailing problems could ultimately be found. Referring to debt charges and tin: prospects of undertaking a conversion operation, lie said that when the Government considered the circumstances favourable it would act promptly. Dealing with the general outlook he said that some feeling of uneasiness which did not seem to be well founded, had arisen. He deprecated both a breezy optimism and undue pessimism, and hoped the House of Commons would keep a balanced judgment. It was futile to base any estimate from inland revenue and surtax on the figures for April and May. or to base any calculation for the whole year upon what happened in the first two mouths, but he saw no reason to expect that there would be any appreciable falling short in the yield in inland revenue, including stamp and death duties, a« well as income tax and surtax. Unemployment Disappoints. The latest figures of unemployment were to some extent disappointing, but were affected by the Whitsuntide holiday. The next figures might show a very different aepeet of the situation. Comparing existing conditions with those prevailing belore the first National Government took office, he said that they had got to a position at which confidence luvd been restored in the eyes of the British people, and in those of the world. It had come about to an almost embarrassing extent. The figures of unemployment which had been rising in 192!) and 1030 had been checked. The Slock Exchange price of the .'!A per cent conversion loan, latft August stood at £77 12/ C, and today it was at £BS. If Britain's position was compared with that of other countries, there was a good deal of ground for encouragement. The trend of trade during the January to April period as compared with the corresponding period of 1931 showed that the percentage fall in the imports in the United Kingdom was 12 per cent, but the United States had suffered a fall of 30 per cent, France 35 per cent, and Germany 30 per cent. French exports had fallen by 38 per cent, those of the United States and Germany by 30 per cent each, while the exports of the United Kingdom had fallen only about t per cent in volume. The percentage fall in imports to the United Kingdom in the past three months of the current year was nil, whereas in the United States it was 4 per cent and in Germany 12 per cent. In regard to the fall in the volume of exports, Germany had suffered 21 per cent, the United States 10 per cent, and Britain less than 1 per cent.

Largest Share of World Trade. It was true that wßile Britain was getting the largest share of it, world trade as a whole was continually diminishing, illustrating the fact that no single country could prosper when the rest of the world was depreesed, but the fact that world depression had been widening and deepening had brought home to every people an added sense of the realities of the situation. "In my view there is to-day in Europe a greater approach to unanimity aa to the cause of the troubles and the steps necessary to solve the problems than at any time eince the war. Next week we enter upon a conference at which an earnest endeavour will be made to reach agreement with the countries "directly concerned in a solution of those difficulties, and I feel hopeful about the result. "Lausanne may prove to be the turning point in the history of Europe in these difficult days." Mr. Morgan Jones (Lab., Glamorgan), moving the rejection of the Finance Bill, declared that it was irrelevant to the international situation. The nation could not continue for another generation with such an exhausting burden of interest and national debt. It was time the Government courageously faced the situation and called the war loan holders, like other members of the community, to,face a reduction in interest.

Further Economies Mentioned. Mr. Chamberlain said he did not accept the view that if these hopes were dieappointed further taxation would be inevitable or that the end of the possibilities of a reduction of national expenditure had been reached. The main, items of expenditure of a eize that would warrant the belief that substantial reductions could be made, however, involved matters of vital importance either to the safety of the country or the standards of living, but if the Government felt that changes regarding them wore necessary they would not flinch, from telling the House and the country.

On the .whole they had no cause for. pessimism. On the contrary, he believed that it was necessary carefully to watch the situation and to lose no opportunity of reducing the national expenditure where that could properly be done. The Government had already taken measures which had prepared the way for rapid advance as soon as general conditions became favourable. They had taken measures through the monetary policy to set the stage for that rise in wholesale prices which all desired.

They had held the pound at a reasonably steady level, not inconvenient to industry, "and had enacted in this Finance Bill measures designed to avoid speculative fluctuations in the future value of sterling. They had instituted a system of tariffs on a scientific basis. They had entered upon an era of cheap and plentiful money.

They had seen the ideas on monetary policy* , in the United States running parallel with their own, and might therefore, especially in view of the con- j ferences. at Lausanne and Ottawa, and possibly later in London, think that a scries 'of opportunities would enable them to contemplate the future with cool heads and with • cautious, but reasoned, optimism.