CONDITIONS IN EUROPE.

Manawatu Standard, Volume LII, Issue 244, 14 September 1932, Page 12

CONDITIONS IN EUROPE.

COMPARISON AVITH NEAV ZEALAND.

Mr F. M. B. Fisher, formerly of Wellington, who is now in England, writes to a Wellington friend, Mr AV. A. Thompson, as follows: — “My business has occupied me for the last six months on the Continent, where I have been in the closest of contact with every kind of social, economic and political trouble that can possibly be conceived. I have, indeed, been amazed at the heroism which is displayed by the Continental people in standing up to the economic hardships from which they are suffering. These, I am certain, must far exceed any disabilities which are being uncountered in New Zealand, where the population is relatively small, and the distribution of wealth, while not all that it could be, .is certainly a great deal better than in these Continental countries. “I suppose that the degree of suffering is comparative, and the people of New Zealand, especially the unemployed. so far removed from the trials and tribulations of the older world, no doubt think that their hardships are unequalled. If only they oould see a fraction of what I have had to see during the last six months, they would realise that in spite of all their hardships and disabilities, their conditions are much better than those of the great masses, which are on the starvation line in the majority of Continental countries. “That bettor conditions will eventually ensue. I have not the slightest doiibt. In spite of everything, the world must and will progress, and in spite of everything the future of New Zealand is safer than that of any country I know. If I may venture to express an opinion from afar,” Mr I Fisher concludes, “I would like to . give you an assurance that so far as j my judgment goes, based on a pretty , wide experience, I would say that your temporary setback will in due , course be followed by an era of prosperity. You need have no fear for the future; you must look forward to it with optimism and goodwilL”