DEPRESSION AND OPTIMISM

Hokitika Guardian, 24 March 1931, Page 3

DEPRESSION AND OPTIMISM

(Otago “Daily Times.”)

The circumstances of the time have conspired to make the Prime Minister an easy target for those who are prepared to mistake plain speaking for pessimism. Mr Forbes, faetd with the problem of balancing a Budget that can only be balanced with extreme difficulty and at the cost of saciifice on the part of all sections of the community, has been compelled to marshal all tlie sombre details oi the sent crisis in order to justify the drastic measures with which in? proposes to avoid a deficit next year as well as this.

He has been taken to task by members of the House tor ms giooi...i look. Mr Harris, a, Reform members, has complained that by adopting too pessimistic a tone be lias faued to inspire confidence in the country, while Mr Walter Nash, a, member of the Labour Party, lias suggested that, as a result of the Prime Minister’s lack of optimism, peole are loth to spend their savings with a readiness that would ease the situation. It would, however, lie foolish to bury our heads in the sand ostrich-wise, and refuse to recognise the stern facts of depression Yet it is important to remember that conditions are no more grave in this country than in most other lands. Sir Norman Angell, M.P., the author and publicist, laid stress on the international incidence of the slump when he wtote: “The economic blizzard which has devastated the world is in its sheer universality and intensity the fact of the year which dwarfs all others. History has never known anything quite like it. In the three great industrial countries of the world not ness than ten million, probably a much greater number, stand idle. In America the Golden, which ten years ago Europeans had come to look- upon as belonging to a higher order of economic creation, in this El Dorado, workers stand by the thousands in bread lines; banks by the score suspend payment. bankers shoot themselves, fortune snormally as solid as Gibraltar vanish into thinner air. And still the depression continues.”

Nevertheless, alter the whole drab story lias been told, there remains the significant fact that New Zealand has weathered as stressful times in Die past when she was less favourably equipped for the struggle than sli (! is to-day. It is true that the problem of unemployment presents greater difficulties to-day than ever before, hut ibis must be regarded as in sonic degree the logical outcome of the growth of the Dominoin, which has happily brought in its train increased facilities to combat the evil.

The reeuperateive power of the country has been strengthened with her annual progress. The Dominion is immensely rich in natural resources and her people enjoy a wealth per head that exceeds that of most other conn-

tries and benefit from a wider distribution of that wealth than is to lie found in almost any other nation. .Moreover, the standard of I ring has been improved with the years and people are in a better position than ever to battle through dark days. The present crisis may he reasonsibly regarded as temporary only, and the fact that the Government so views it is indicated in the terms of the Finance Bill now before Parliament in the respect that the sections relating to the revision of industrial awards and agreements are to he operative for a period of considerably less than two years, wljilo any adjustments that may he made can lie reviewed at periods of not less than six months. The position at present is not so much that times are hard lor all the people of the Dominion as that they are not as soft as they were for most of them It is vain to think that tlie country can emerge from the slough of depression without making a resolute effort to do so. While cheerfulness is a helpful virtue and buoyancy of spirit is desirable, they require to be reinforced by a determination to see things through if they are to rescue the country speedily 'from the economic difficulties which she is sharing with older and much greater nations.