NEW YEAR HOPES

Evening Post, Issue 25, 30 January 1935, Page 10

NEW YEAR HOPES

RECOVERY IN THE AIR,

HEARTENING MESSAGES

THE PRIMATE'S "BUT"

(Front "Tlw Port'i? Pspressntatlvt.) LONDON, January 5.

In his New Year address from Canterbury Cathedral the Archbishop of Canterbury said: —

"When we now survey tho world, and our own land within it, we know indeed that the winter of- our , discontents and disappointments is not past; but we feel that recovery is coming. It is to be discerned not bo much in statistics of .trade or employment as in a tone of mind, an atmosphere of spirit. Yes, recovery is in the air, and for this we may well be thankful." But the Archbishop went on to speak of the need Of another kind of recov-ery-—the recovery of soul. ; "Are there not many facts and forces in our modern life which are imperilling the soul! The mere mention of some of them will show how real the peril is.

'' There is, first and perhaps foremost, the ever-increasing speed of physical movement. Thus we are hurried along over the surface of life; and in the jostle of sensations we have no time to stop and think. The soul is unheeded and God is crowded out.

f'We must restore a right balance. The most urgent need of modern life is to make time to recover the soul, time to recollect and bring into action all the deeper emotions and convictions which are latent within the soul; in a word, to be still and know God. t

"We must call in the spiritual world to redress the balance of the' material world. , . . What the whole world needs is a recovery of soul."

MB. MACDONAUTB MESSAGE. In his Mew Year message the Prime Minister said:—

. "The years we shall look back 'on have been historic, and during them the quality of our people has been tested severely. It has survived the tests alike of war and of economic disturbance and stress.

"Now 1 hope and believe, despite the manifold difficulties which press upon us at home and abroad, that we are slowly but surely winning through, and I would take this opportunity of appealing to the country to maintain its steadiness, its unity, and its sturdy common sense until the goal is reached." ■

Mr. Baldwin, in a New Year message published in "Home and Empire," referred to the growing improvement in the national fortunes.

"If the improvement secured by the end of 1033," he said, "had been fortuitous, and not the result of a care-fully-developed policy, the reaction would almost certainly have set* in during the past year.. Instead of which the striking improvement upon which we were able to congratulate ourselves a year ago has been maintained and extended."

Employment, Mr. Baldwin adds, continued to improve, foreign trade continued to show au upward tendency, and agriculture gave welcome promise of better times. In the money markets of the world "British credit stood higher than it' had ever done since the war. New houses were built at a rate which exceeded any previous effort, and the greatest- slum clearance campaign on record was launched. The Unemployment Act placed unemployment insurance on a secure financial basis, and made the care of almost the whole of the able-bodied unemployed who were in need a national responsibility. In the same constructive spirit the Government had set on foot a great experiment in the depressed areas, with the object of trying to evolve practical measures for their rehabilitation. Direct help in the form1 of subsidies had been extended to tramp shipping, the sugar beet and livestock industries, the milk publicity campaign, and the completion of the Queen MaTy. LABOUR HOPES. Mr. W. M. Citrine, general secretary of the Trades Union Congress, expressed the view that the New Year would, offer a brighter prospect of recovery from the . prolonged economic depression. "There appears," he said, "to be firm, ground for the hope that the processes of. revival set in motion in the latter months of the old year will grow stronger and will produce a substantial improvement in the conditions of life and employment for the general body of wage-earners. It will be for the trade unions, I believe, a year of real expansion. There are already definite indications of an increase in membership, and many successful efforts are being made to secure for the workers the benefits which improvement* in industry and trade are bringing within reach. I sincerely hope that 1935 will mark a turning point in the dircc-' tion of more stable' political and economic conditions throughout the world."