The Auckland Star: WITH WHICH ARE INCORPORATED The Evening News, Morning News, The Echo and The Sun. MONDAY, JUNE 12, 1933. THE WORLD'S HOPE.

Auckland Star, Volume LXIV, Issue 136, 12 June 1933, Page 6

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

MONDAY, JUNE 12, 1933. THE WORLD'S HOPE.

For the cause that lacks assistance, For the tcrong that needs resistance, For the future in the distance, And the good that toe van do.

The people of this Dominion luivc good reason to be keenly interested in the Conference which opens to-day in London. Not only is it the largest gathering ever held to discuss world trade, but it is the most important of the long series of international conferences held since the war. Its business will be to discuss issues which, vitally alfect the welfare of all nations and to find a way out of tlie problems of our day. For New Zealand the question which overshadows all others in importance is that of prices, but this issue is linked up closely with all the other subjects before the Conference, and, if there is to be a general increase in price levels, there must be at the same time a return to stable currencies, a removal or an casing of trade restrictions, and a settlement of war debts. It is not to be thought, because the debts question is definitely excluded, that it has no bearing upon the economic problems which must be solved. In the view of Britain and the other debtor nations it is one of the primary factors leading to the present situation, but opinion ill the United States has been emphatically against such an attitude, thus leaving no alternative but to conduct negotiations on a separate basis. To hold an economic conference under such conditions reminds one of the well-known rhyme about the child who was granted permission to go in for a bathe, but was told not to go near the water. At any rate, there is an obvious difficulty in deciding what course to adopt when it is known that any decisions made may be upset by other action. This should be as plain to America as it is to Europe, and though the debts may be excluded from the Conference itself, we may be sure that they will be discussed somewhere in London.

Turning, then, to the immediate subjects for discussion, there can be no doubt about the duty of statesmen. It is to make a choice between individual policy and co-operation. The Conference itself, and the widely representative nature of it, suggest that the time for local rivalry and the play of sefetional interest is past, and that the leaders of the people are looking into the wider field. This attitude was stirring in the world when the last Economic Conference was held six years ago, and the discussions, resolutions and reports of that gathering form a strong body of evidence in favour of freer trade along international lines, but the declarations pf 1927, though many times reaffirmed, have been barren of material result. In the past four years, partly as a result of obstructions of all kinds, international trade has been cut. in half and is hedged about by a maze of restrictions which bewilder the business man. There is a growing body of opinion in favour of extending economic action on an international scale, and, many other possibilities been exhausted in the efforts of governments to work out their own destinies, there is the greater readiness to promote some measure of world unity. To arrive at a plan under which all can act in concert is, of course, a stupendous task. Yet much can be done if the right effort is made now. It is within the power of the Conference to make group agreements, if unanimity cannot be reached on vital issues, and, as the Preparatory Commission of Experts has pointed out, the establishment of a lower-tariff area would be one important step towards reversing the movement of tariffs generally. Group agreements could be made also regarding currency and prices, and recognition of this reminds us of the need of a bold lead by Britain and the United States, for they, more than any others, can influence international policy. Monetary questions, it appears, must be faced first, but a solution here can be successful only if trade is facilitated and there is an adjustment of international debts.