NOTES OF THE DAY

Dominion, Volume 26, Issue 29, 28 October 1932, Page 10

NOTES OF THE DAY

With much of what was said on the subject of I P or J? a S e by Mr W. R. Wilson at the annual meeting of the Guardian Tru Company in Auckland .it is impossible not he savs that “the spirit of mutual regard for the other s interests aroused in a time of general stress led to concessionsbeing made according to the circumstances of each case and m some instances to more than the reductions fixed by statute On t other hand, there were instances where the attitude of mortgagee and landlords rendered it necessary that protectivelegation should be provided. Mr. Wilson declares that it was, and would have con tinned to be, the exception for advantage to be taken of the difficulties of the times. But it was the exceptional cases that made it necessary for the Government to intervene. There would be much less legislation in this or any other country if there were no black sheep.

Whether the Geneva Conference on Disarmament will receive a fresh impulse toward definite achievement as the result of President Hoover’s latest declaration remains to be seen. The plain meaning of his words is that if Geneva fails there will inevitably follow a revival of competitive naval construction, in which his own country will set an impressive example. His reference to the disturbed conditions prevailing throughout the world”. suggests, the existence of an under-current of apprehension concerning the situation created by Japan’s activities in Manchu-kuo and the Geneva. demand tor equality in armaments. It is clear that. American opinion on the protracted and apparently futile discussions at Geneva is becoming impatient, and that this is being expressed in increasing pressure by the Big Navy Group upon the President. Mr. Hoover s declaration should give the world pause. It is to be hoped that it may prove to be influential at this juncture when the Disarmament Conference seems inclined to boggle at the task set before it.

Answering criticism from the Labour Party on the Ottawa Agreements Bill, Mr. J. H. Thomas in the House of . Commons asked the Opposition to consider the future position of unemployment unless the Dominions were placed in a position to deal with the problem of migration. There is no doubt that migration, a redistribution of the Empire’s population, might assist in. solving the unemployment problem in Britain. The flow of migration, however, is checked by the fact that all the Empire countries have serious unemployment to deal with. If more prosperous conditions return to the Dominions their capacity to absorb immigrants from the Mother Country would be raised. The over-populated Old Country would be relieved of part, at least, of its surplus. There is plenty of room, in the Dominions, and when conditions are normal once more immigration should be encouraged, for increased population means increased consumption, which benefits both the primary and secondary industries. One of the objects of the Ottawa agreements is to accelerate the recovery of the Dominions, a recovery that in its turn should pave the way for migration. In its opposition to the Ottawa agreements the Labour Party in the House of Commons has evidently missed this highly important aspect of Imperial economy.

There is in Mr. Coates’s reply to yesterday’s deputation representing certain cities and boroughs in their protest against the proposal that their electricity departments should be brought under the control of the power boards, a suggestion that the Government may take action in the matter. Mainly as the result of the depression some of the rural power boards are in difficulties. On the other hand the electricity departments of the urban bodies have been showing profitable returns. “There can be neither justice nor commercial honesty,” said the Mayor of Wellington, on behalf of the latter, “in selecting one activity of a municipal authority because it happens to be a successful activity, and raiding it to fill the depleted coffers of extravagant power boards.” There may be something to be said for this view. It should not be forgotten, however, that the urban authorities have a decided advantage over the rural in the greater density of demand. Their management may have been no better, perhaps not as good, but their market has been more compact and more easily and cheaply served. The question is whether they should be permitted the exclusive enjoyment of a natural advantage or be required to take in some of their weaker supply brothers. As it is, to use a transport analogy, the urban authorities are being allowed to skim the cream of the traffic.