The Auckland Star: WITH WHICH ARE INCORPORATED The Evening News, Morning News, The Echo and The Sun SATURDAY, DECEMBER 30, 1933. A CRITICAL YEAR.

Auckland Star, Volume LXIV, Issue 308, 30 December 1933, Page 8

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

SATURDAY, DECEMBER 30, 1933. A CRITICAL YEAR.

For the cause that lacks assistance. For the toror<.g that needs For the future in the distance, And the good that Ke can d<i

Of the year that will end to-morrow it may be said that it has been the most highly charged with anxiety of any since the end ol the war, and that its passing will be viewed with singularly little regret by the majority of mankind. It has been a highly critical period. The whole world has continued to be racked by. economic stress, which reached a more serious pitch than ever with the admission of American collapse and the heroic measures taken to save the situation in what had been regarded as the most prosperous of all nations. The Economic Conference, the greatest ever held, met aniid high hopes, but achieved litrle, and the yeai enfls with the forces of nationalism and internationalism still at war in the economic as in the political field. In this latter there were several grave alarms, the gravest of all being the triumph of Hitlerism in Germany, and the setting up in the German saddle again the ideal of Prussian nationalism. Germany threatened Austria and withdrew from the League and the Disarmament Conference. This withdrawal, following on that of Japan, has seriously weakened the League, and there has been talk of the need for revising its constitution. The Disarmament Conference has been vainly trying all the year to come tc an agreement, and the closing days of December see still another attempt being made, with Britain in' the lead, to save it. The failure to agree has been depressing, and has been coupled with further advances by autocracy against democracy. "We are drawing near to the valley of the shadow again," writes an English publicist. "This time we approach it with eyes open." On the credit side, however, there were encouraging entries. Britain, France, Germany and Italy signed a Four-Power Pact in the cause of peace and disarmament. Russia signed non-aggression pacts with several neighbours, came to an understanding with the United States, and generally made closer contact with the world outside her boundaries than at any time since the establishment of the Soviet State. Hitler has been more conciliatory than the aims expressed by his party, and there seems to be real ground for hope that a' settlement can be arrived at between France and Germany, the first foundation of European peace.-Moreover, if the peoples of the world do not realise what another great war would mean, it is not for want of plain warnings, and perhaps there is a wider and deeper appreciation of the appalling risks involved. Economically some improvement can be seen. Conditions in the United States have been grave, and the extent of State intervention to remedy them is an indication of the amount of control that civilisation may be compelled to' submit to if the structure is to survive, but that country was the last to feel the depression. In Britain, where the blizzard began to blow much earlier, there has" been a distinct improvement in trade, which everybody hopes is the first sign of world recovery.

In Britain, indeed, conditions to-day are more cheering than in any other great country. The revenue is buoyant, and unemployment is decreasing. The policy of "slow but. sure" has been justified by definite improvement in various branches of trade and in the national accounts. Among developments in the outer Empire there may be mentioned the reduction of Newfoundland to the status of a' Crown colony; the failure of the British and Free State Governments to settle their differences, Mr. de Valera continuing his separatist policy; the quieter tone in India, and the steady advance towards the establishment of a new Constitution; and the marked improvement in Australian affairs. The great campaign against slums in Britain should be noted as a conspicuous manifestation of a widespread determination to improve social conditions, a recognition on the part of all classes of duty towards one's neighbours that is one of the most encouraging signs in these difficult and anxious times.

In New Zealand the year has been one of continued strain, with a distinct easing at the end owing to the rise in the price of wool. Unemployment has maintained its deplorably high level, and the Budget is being balanced only by borrowing. Prices of dairy produce, after a rise that put heart into the industry, fell again, and over the industry there still hangs the threat of a quota in Britain. The sensational appreciation in wool prices, which are governed by a world demand and not, as with butter, by a single market into which many countries are shipping produce, has been the most encouraging development in the economic sphere. Britain, however, remains our chief market, and fortunately British industry is showing marked signs of recovery. Politically our year has been one of anxiety and important decisions. Shortly after the period began the Government, against the advice of the Finance Minister and a large body of public opinion, took the very serious step of raising the exchange rate to 25 per cent. The effects of this inflation cannot be accurately gauged for some time to come, but it is already clear that the change has gravely complicated national budgeting. The establishment of a Reserve Bank was another development of first-rate importance. The Labour Party and political life generally suffered a severe loss in the death of Mr. H. E. Holland,. Leader of the Labour Party, and Mr. J. McCombs, one of its oldest and ablest members. The same party had the distinction, in electing Mrs.

McCombs in place of her husband, of sending the first woman to the New Zealand Parliament.* The year ends with an outlook brighter than that of twelve months ago, and the people of New Zealand, looking back over the period, will count their blessings as well as their trials, and will face the unknown with courage and resolution. ■ • (