ANOTHER NATIONAL PLAN.

Auckland Star, Volume LXV, Issue 10, 12 January 1934, Page 6

ANOTHER NATIONAL PLAN.

The "Sick Man of Europe," as Turkey used to be called, has now become under Mustapha Kemal a remarkably vigorous adolescent. The Cabinet at Angora has just sanctioned a five-year plan to cost £6,000,000, designed to transform agricultural Turkey into an industrial nation. Last October the Turkish nation celebrated the tenth anniversary of the founding of the Turkish Republic, and every village in Turkey sent a man, a woman and a child to its provincial capital for three days as guests of the Government. 'At Angora, Mustapha Kemal spoke to more than 100,000 people, and reiterated his determination to raise his country to the ranks of the most prosperous and most civilised nations of the world with the speed of the age in which they lived. National planning for . industrial development is now taking place in Russia, Germany, Italy, Turkey, the United States and Japan. An Egyptian company has taken advantage of the depressed condition of the cotton mills of England to buy the equipment of a number of Lancashire concerns, so that it seems probable that in a short time Egypt will be manufacturing her own cotton goods. This industrialisation of nations formerly regarded as backward constitutes a serious threat to British industry. Egypt ranks third among the cotton producing countries of the world, and she exported a large part of this cotton to England and took manufactured goods in return. Now Turkey may become a competitor in the manufacturing market; she also will 'make a bid for markets if her plan goes through.

The transformation of Turkey has been due almost entirely to Mustapha Kemal. He is a strong man, ruthless, of indomitable will, and a real thinker and planner. He has dominated and directed the thinking of the Turks, and the Turkish people have responded to his leadership and seconded his efforts. The Turks have balanced their Budget and have avoided foreign loans. They have dropped the Sultanate, the Caliphate, the distinctive Ottoman costume, the schools and the institutions which ha'd perpetuated ancient religious teachings, and they have turned toward the Western world foi ! substitutes. The revolution was followed by a Teformation, and Turkey now aspires to take her place among the leaders of industry and establish factories and mills. Under Mustapha she will probably prove an efficient competitor in the markets of the East.