WORLD'S IMPASSE

Evening Post, Volume CXVI, Issue 105, 31 October 1933, Page 10

WORLD'S IMPASSE

THE ONLY WAY OUT

(Special to the "Evening Post.")

AUCKLAND, October 30,

The problem of Japan's•• place in world affairs was discussed by Mr. W. Nash, M.P., a member of the New Zealand dclegatioiu to the Institute of Pacific Eolations at Banff, when addressing the Auckland branch, of the institute. He said he did not propose to go into the whole situation in the Pacific from the Japanese point of view, but into only one phase of it.

There was much agitation, particularly in Europe, against Japanese methods of capturing trade, and it was declared that conditions in Japanesemills made competition unfair and uneconomic. Then there was the question of land and population. Japan, with 50 per cent, more territory than New Zealand, had a population forty times as great. Her subjects were denied access to the United States,

Canada, and Australia, and the Customs laws of New Zealand had been so written that Japanese did not even think of coming to this country.

They said that in order to raise their standard of living to the Western level they must have territory into which to expand. They wanted access to raw materials which they might manufacture into goods which, in turn, they could send out and thereby build up credits to enable them to purchase foodstuffs. Here they met with tariff barriers raised by those who said that the low Japanese standard of living meant unfair competition. The natural reply, to this was that if Japan were denied access to land, materials, and markets her standard, of living must remain static.

"I affirm this truth," continued Mr. Nash, "that where there are peoples of equal virility, mental efficiency, and vision it is impossible to keep one at a lower level than others. What applies to nations applies to individuals; All are entitled to the same things that make life full.

"I believe the only way out of the world's impasse is by commodity agreements measured in any monetary form. I hold that no monetary solution alone will suffice," said Mr. Nash. "We must find out what we can produce, go to others who need it, offer it to them and say, 'We will take all we can of what you have to offer, either directly or through some indirect channel.' I believe that the .more we can offer to take from others, the more we shall be able to induce them to take from

us. "At present we are trying to work on limitation. We cannot succeed that way. We can succeed only by expansion of international trade, by putting our own house in order, and then deciding how we can increase our trade with other nations. If there is a menace in the East we can overcome it in the same way by finding out what we can sell and what they need. "At the conferences' I met men and women who were prepared to state the truth without bias and let it be its own advocate. In that way I believe fine work is being done for the cause of international well-being."

planter,