Reign of Gloom

Dominion, Volume 24, Issue 189, 8 May 1931, Page 11

Reign of Gloom

Sir,— King gloom reigns ! His ascendancy commenced months ago when produce prices began to fall; his zenith was reached when the disciple, of the gloomy Dean returned from, a jaunt to Metric ; England—evidently Mr. I orbes spent much time in the precincts ot bt. Paul’s listening to words of wisdom .(?) from Dean Inge. On several occasions during the past session I listened to Mr. Forbes when he was speaking in the House. He spoke with tears in his voice almost as doleful as the dancer who danced with “tears in his eyes. What amazes me is that anyone who knows this wonderful New Zealand can so constantly' bemoan the state of the country. Mr. Forbes set an example, and every businessman, worker, housewife and even the children sat down and joined in the funereal moau. Could we by way of a change cease quoting unemployment figures and quote instead the hundreds of thousands who are mployed; instead of stating that, wool rose a farthing or dropped a haltpenny, let us read that a couple of thousand bales of wool were sold, therefore the country is so many thousands of pounds better

o ff - ' How businessmen can expect to no business surpasses me; they cut here, there and everywhere, call meetings of staffs, state how bad the times are and that there is no business doing—then -n the next breath tell their sales staff to go and get business. -It would be a huge joke if the consequences were not so disastrous, Now, Sir, New Zealand has Still the game acreage; the sun still shines on this great country; the rain falls; the lambs are born; crops grow; cows calve; freezing works ship carcases; dairy factories make butter, and so on. What we do lack seems to be a certain metal disc—a coin which has become our God; because of the lack of-these discs thousands are exisitng close to the bread line, notwithstanding that there is an abundance of commodities supplied by man and nature. Thousands are iQaflng around becoming unemployables, youth cannot get a start in life—and there are two towns waiting to be rebuilt. It costs just as much in commodities to keep a person unemployed as employed—so why not let him do something useful? The state of a man’s mind controls his actions; the state of mind of the masses controls the destiny of the country; so let us one and all radiate sunshine; happy days are here again; nature ■is still working 24 hours a day;, goods are plentiful, so why this gloom—get, out of it; coin and printed paper are not the Alpha and Omega of life;, let ns get back to the joyousness of living, all’s right with the world—greed, fear and selfishness are the three things, which hinder us from a true appreciation of what a wonderful world we live in—yes, Indeed, all’s right with the world, therefore you mortals get right, too. —I am, etC ” .. W. M. DAVEY. Wdlington, May 2,