NOTES OF THE DAY

Dominion, Volume 25, Issue 264, 3 August 1932, Page 8

NOTES OF THE DAY

While there may be no exaggeration in the Mayor s descripj 10 iof the Central Fire Brigade station as “a disgrace, and a bu’lding, in fact, that he “could not imagine any body of men being able to live in,” it would be unwise to be unduly precipitate with regard to its replacement. Rebuilding schemes affecting the civic block should b considered on a comprehensive plan,. Whatever may be done in the immediate future should form part of that plan. Were it not. for the Corporation’s-straitened finances a start might have already been made on such a scheme. Lack of means, however would be no excuse for patchwork building. The replacement of the Central Fire Station is no doubt an urgent question, but it has been so for several years. There is nothing to. be gained from a hasty decision that might be regretted when the time is opportune to. deal comprehensively with the larger question of reorganising the entire civic block, lhe conned was therefore wise to refer the matter to a committee. * * * *

Because she had to pay heavy spurns abroad for reparations, Germany could not also find credits to pay for food imports. Hence she was forced to grow her own foodstuffs.. Thus last year she produced 99 per cent, of her meat requirements, importing only 1 per cent. Four years previously she imported 8 per cent, of the meat she ate. The same applies to other commodities. Foreign purchases of cereals for bread have fallen in the same period from 24 to 6 per cent. It figures for butter and cheese were available, they would probably show the same tendency. Hence, although New Zealand along with many other countries has been collecting annual sums in reparations from Germany, we have probably lost more by the practical closing ot German markets. The Lausanne agreement to end reparations should at once begin to work as a corrective. Unfortunately, necessity has. caused Germany to adopt a policy of national self-sufficiency and tha cannot be changed all at once. * • * *

After a protracted period of incubation, the British Independent labour Party has hatched its new policy..' Its members are to resign from the main Labour group, now the'official Opposition in Parliament, while retaining their membership in the trade unions and co-operative societies. They propose to concentrate upon Socialism pure and unadulterated. For the policy of “gradualness” pursued by the Labour Party, and to which the “I.L.P.’s” lent lukewarm support in order to maintain the party in office, is to be substituted “the complete overthrow of the economic, political, and social organisation of the Capitalist State.” Elections are to be fought independently. This disruption within the general rank and file of the British. Labour movement has been foreseen for some time, and will complicate the task of rebuilding from the ruin into which the party fell a year ago when its members shirked the task imposed by the financial crisis. . . .

Noticeable signs of a revival in the shipping trade are seen in the fact, mentioned by the Sydney Morning .Herald, that there has been an increase in the number of steamers sailing from Australia, and particularly from New South Wales. In addition ships that hitherto have been making the outward voyage from the. United Kingdom to Australian ports with little or no cargo are now bringing comparatively large consignments. Another hopeful indication is. revealed in . the upward tendency of shipping shares before the opening of the British Loan Conversion scheme, noted by Mr. Eva,’ Australian manager of the Aberdeen and Commonwealth Line, who has just returned to Melbourne. Shipping is a reliable barometer of trade conditions. Its prosperity, or lack of it, reacts upon various associated activities on the waterfront, inland transport, the engineering trades, the coal and oil fuel industries, and many others. Hence, if the signs of a revival are precursors of a real quickening in trade, and not merely a “false dawn,” the passing of the depression may well be said to have definitely begun.