THE WORLD AND ITS PROBLEMS

Evening Post, Volume CXV, Issue 138, 14 June 1933, Page 11

THE WORLD AND ITS PROBLEMS

SURVEY AT LONDON CONFERENCE INITIAL SPEECHES OF DELEGATES IMPORTANCE OF TASK REALISED

(United Press Association—By Electric Xelcsrap^—CopyrisW.) (Received June 14, 10 a.m.) LONDON, June 13. The opening of the World Conference was marked with grey skies, which brought gloom to the Chamber. Informal conversations indicated that few constructive speeches were likely. The delegates are withholding their plans until the committees are constituted. Fruitful work in the Chamber is rendered extremely . difficult by the prohibition of smoking. Delegates are spending most of their time in the lobbies, where they are able to exchange ideas in friendly confidence. Even in lounge suits the Conference retained an atmosphere of homogeneity, though many delegates were thereby less impressive in appearance. As an earnest desire to. get to grips with the problems of the Conference, there has been no dissent to the Bureau's proposal to limit the general debate to three days and the speeches to fifteen minutes. -The President has discretion to extend the time limit if a speaker is usefully contributing to the Conference's work. THE VOICE OF FRANCE The opening speaker was the French Premier (M. Daladier), a nuggety figure, filled with Gallic fire and Breton caution. He spoke from a manuscript, but seldom referred to it. He possesses a manly voice with a delightful timbre, always arresting, and made a great impression. In eight minutes he traversed the difficulties of production and exchange, under which two-thirds of the world's , population are existing. Agriculture had suddenly found prices fallen by half, sometimes by two-thirds. How could they be _deprived of their purchasing power and continue to be customers in industry? To the evil post-war mass production was added instability of currency, -said M. Daladier. The maintenance, restoration, and freedom of the movement of gold was indispensable to the restoration of the circulation of goods. What would they say of an engineer who worked with an indiarubber footrule? The adoption of a forty-hour week within an international framework was worthy of consideration. There was a tendency for all Government policies to run counter to one another. These must be harmonised to avoid economic Ivarfare. A MIRROR OF MUSSOLINI Signor Guido Jung (Italy), sexagenarian, thick-set, of medium height, wearing a, Fascist emblem in his buttonhole, spoke with a perfect English accent with a deliberate, quiet delivery. He briefly mirrored Signor Mussolini's practicality, an interpreter translating his speech into French. Signor Jung approached nearer the bleak facts than any statesman has yet dared. He emphasised the transcendent importance of a settlement of war debts. The fact that all nations, wealthy or otherwise, had suffered the same ills of unemployment and 1 decline in real prices proved that the evils were outside the.monetary fields. It was not-logical to cleplore excess productive equipment and simultaneously expand it by forced injections of credit. It was a problem of adjustment. They must co-operate to enable the investor to feel that his interests were safeguarded. In this respect economic efficiency was paramount. General Smuts (South Africa), one of the three survivors of the Peace Conference, said that he had seen his fear 3of economic warfare realised. He now feared for the fate of civilisation, .if the Conference failed. He implored the Conference to separate politics from economics and appoint committees of experts to advise as to the right steps to world recovery.