The Dominion. SATURDAY, DECEMBER 31, 1938. THE LAST OF 1938

Dominion, Volume 32, Issue 83, 31 December 1938, Page 10

The Dominion. SATURDAY, DECEMBER 31, 1938. THE LAST OF 1938

Tonight the last lines on page 1938 of the annals of Christendom will be written. A new leaf will be turned tomorrow, and those of us who have been salutarily chastened by the events of the year that is past, and the realisation of errors and follies committed, will no doubt indulge in seasonable introspections and make good resolutions for t re future. This annual stocktaking is good for both the individual and his community. In each case there is the balance of profit and loss, moral and material, to be reckoned up, spiritual and earthly assets revalued, and methods reviewed. There is something psychologically stimulating in the prospect of making a fresh start, even Jf it is a debit instead of a credit balance that is carried forward into the new year, and though many good resolutions may perish all too soon, these new-born enthusiasms are at least a sign that those who make them are conscious of their defects and weaknesses. Human errors have a constructive value if the morals to be drawn from them are taken in a proper spirit of self-criticism. There is no such thing as human infallibility. • The wisest of men, in common with the foolish, may make mistakes, but it is only the foolish who repeat them. The wise man welcomes criticism, and gladly, and in all humility, admits error; the foolish resents criticism and, as a result, lives in a world of unreality, in which all values aie distorted and out of proportion. And this is as true of the community as of the individual. Of the disasters that afflict communities some‘are preventable, others beyond human prevision. Wars are preventable if people keep cool, and exercise reason and restraint. The year that is passing provided a classic illustration. It was through the initiative of a single individual, the British Prime Minister, that the civilised world escaped, at any rate for a time, the calamity of another world war. The worst disaster of the year in New Zealand was the inundation that desolated the fertile and smiling Esk Valley in the Hawke s Bay district, and wrought destruction to many homesteads and fortunes over a wide area. Whether it would have been possible for foresight and precautionary measures to have mitigated its effects need not be discussed here, but the lessons of the disaster have givgn the authorities concerned a starting-point for activities which should prevent, as far as is humanly practicable, a similar visitation in the future. In New Zealand political history-making the year has been eventful. Socialist legislation as planned on the programme of the first Labour Government to gain power in this country reached its climax in the last session of Parliament with the passing of the Social Security Act, a comprehensive and far-reaching measure held by its critics to rest upon too frail and hazardous a basis. The coming year will see it in operation, with effects upon the national economy that have yet to be demonstrated. Also to be experienced are the impacts upon business of the Government’s recently instituted system of export and import licensing and control of sterling. Although the year has been noteworthy for the amount of free spending by the Government and the public, there has been an undercurrent of anxiety concerning the future on the part of those whose business it is to watch the trend of economic forces. Costs and prices have risen steeply, and are still rising, there has been a decline in production marked enough to cause the Government some uneasiness, and the export outlook is less favourable than for the previous year. The New Zealand pound, in relation to the internal price level, has declined in value, and the public at large is realising to an increasing extent the difference between spending money and purchasing power —between nominal wages and real wages. The fact to be faced on the brink of the New Year is that the vaunted prosperity claimed by the Socialist Government as the result of its policy of spending has received a check. The evidence of this to the general public was not so marked before the general election last October as it is today, and the Government was able to convince a majority of the electors that its return to office would ensure a continuance of the care-free conditions then prevailing. Responsible citizens with interests at stake, and concerned for the general welfare of the country, look forward withfenxiety to the problems of the coming year, when the effects upon the revenue of the imports restrictions, and upon the nation’s resources of the cost of the social security scheme, will be felt. Both at home and abroad, 1939, to all appearances, will be a year ’ of anxiety. The international situation is still gravely unsettled, and unemployment in the United Kingdom is increasing. The New Year will be eminently a period when our own Government should put its house in order that it may be able to cope with emergencies. . It must be prepared to take a realistic view of its situation, to review its policy in this light, and recognize the irresistible force of economic laws. It should welcome advice and criticism, and endeavour to realize that errors of statesmanship, which may bring heavy loss to the community, and hardship to many of its citizens, cannot be condoned by good intentions, and the aspirations of Utopian visionaries. Much may be possible in the ensuing twelve months to stabilise tie equilibrium of the national economy, increase production, and preserve harmony and goodwill in industry. In the hope that all concerned will play their part toward these ends, we wish our readers — A Bright and Prosperous New Year.