LORD SNOWDEN AND OTTAWA

Evening Star, Issue 21299, 31 December 1932, Page 11

LORD SNOWDEN AND OTTAWA

TO THE EDITOR. Sir, —I hope our Minister of Finance, the Hon.'W. Downie Stewart, and all others who look to Ottawa as, a hope of Empire recovery from our present ills will ponder Lord Snowden’s broadcast speech reported in your issue of December 29. It is true Mr Snowden is speaking of Britain, but what sort of patriotism do we in New Zealand claim we represent if our benefit (if any) is going to be the means of raising the cost of living for our British brothers and sisters, and. causing more unemployment? _ Let me quote the paragraph wherein Lord- Snowden refers to this: “ We have undertaken at the dictation of Canada to denounce our trado agreements with Russia, and in order to implement the agreement to restrict the importation of foreign meat we shall have to denounce other advantageous agreements we have made with foreign countries. The denunciation of these agreements must inevitably lead to a large loss of foreign trade, with a resultant increase in unemployment. In fact, the great increase in unemployment, oyer 300,000, since we imposed tariffs is in the main due to that cause.” He then goes on to say: “ I cannot, even by implication, be thought to be in agreement with a policy which I am convinced is doing grave injury' to our trade, and which, if continued, is certain to bring upon us complete disaster.” Those are weighty words, but they cannot be brushed aside, as the facts are overwhelming. I have already pointed out the results of the abandoning of the trade agreement with Russia, and the British manufacturers realise this also, and are pressing the National Government (save the name) to alter this policy, as they were losing contracts to other, countries, and as a result they bad to curtail their staffs and increase unemployment, as stated by Lord Snowden. Empire trade reads well in theory on paper, but international banking policy and finance have gone beyond empires, and this is what causes the contradictions in the carrying out of such a policy, because in practice the game is akin to horse racing. The losing investors pay the dividends of the winning investors. If one part of the British Empire gains at the expense of the other you might call it Empire preference ov naything elsej still to mo xb is not true patriotism. Yet, can we expect anything better in such a cutthroat competitive system, where, those who win only do so at the expense of those who fail? An all-in policy would surely be an advance on such a policy. But that would be Socialism, and that is, of course, impossible.—l am, etc., , P. Neilson. December 29.