Manawatu Evening Standard. THURSDAY, NOV. 30, 1933. WORLD CONDITIONS.

Manawatu Standard, Volume LIII, Issue 312, 30 November 1933, Page 6

Manawatu Evening Standard. THURSDAY, NOV. 30, 1933. WORLD CONDITIONS.

The events of the times present a wide and fruitful field for survey by financial authorities. The world is still in a state of flux and changes of moment are taking place. Great experiments are being made to counteract the effects of the world wide depression, and are being analysed by by the shrewdest brains in other countries. Of all reviews of the progTess out of these troublous times, none command so much respect and attention as those of bankers. They are in fact a valuable guide for the ordinary citizen who finds himself bewildered by the maze into which the world has got itself, and by the diversity of panaceas offered as a cure. In the course of his address to the annual meeting of the Bank of New South Wales, at Sydney this week, the president (Mr Thomas Buckland) gave a most comprehensive survey in which he discussed events of outstanding importance in both Australia and New Zealand, as well as in the wider sphere overseas. He notes that the countries in which his bank operates are still suffering from the depression, but there are signs of a slow recovery which have to cover the whole range of exportable products before recovery can be accepted as assured. Though the World Conference did not succeed in finding a solution of the problems, Mr Buckland anticipates that such a huge conference sooner or later must be fruitful of good, though the “harvest may be long in coming and there may be many disappointments in the interval.” In congratulating Australian Governments on their part in carrying out the Premiers’ Plan, he comments that the most dangerous lead which can be given at the present time is in the direction of higher costs, for “there can be no permanent recovery, no permanent prosperity, until we have achieved a new relationship between the prices we obtain for our products and our costs which will enable all our efficient industries to carry on at a profit.” He points out that the outstanding achievement of the plan was the “regaining of control of Australian currency” enabling wholesale price levels to be kejit on a steadier plane than those of almost any other country, and incidentally has a tilt at divers plans and proposals propounded to cure our economic ills. Mr Buckland is a severe critic of the New Zealand Government’s legislation which provides for the taking over of the banks’ stocks of gold for the lteserve Bank at the old fixed mint price, and placing profits from the sale thereof to the public account. He joins forces with many people in this Dominion who also disapprove of such action. He also criticises the Budgetary position, which “points to the necessity of New Zealand adopting a plan similar to the Premiers’ Plan in Australia in order to regain control of its finances.” The Budget position certainly lias given cause for concern, especially as reserves have ben used to assist in reducing past deficits, but the more buoyant revenue, and the generally more favourable outlook, should not be without considerable influence on the position. Nevertheless, such comment as Mr Buckland’s should be noted by the Government which must exert every effort towards achieving financial stability. Other points of wide interest are covered in the survey—economic nationalism, primary products and movements to restore sound values, exchange rates, the_ future of gold, debts and reparations, and unemployment. He stresses the de. pendence of Australia and New Zealand upon their exporting industries and, as a corollary to that, their dependence upon the seasons, and urges the need for trade agreements to help both countries and to assist towards expanding international trade. His conclusion that the world is proceeding slowly towards recovery in spite of all the rumour and alarums of , international politics is another encouraging message for the people.

ST. DUNSTAN’S. Of all the distressing legacies the Great War has left us none is so tragic as that of the blinded soldier or sailor. As the eighteenth annual report of St. Dunstan’s, the g*reat institution for blinded service men, says, “Wars end, wounds heal, but blindness remains—and increases.” How true, this is is borne out by the fact that during the past five years there have been more. blinded soldiers under the care of St. Dunstan’s than at any other period. The first blinded soldier went to St. Dunstan’s in 1915. To-day the number has increased to nearly two thousand. Even this year there have been twenty-seven new cases of Great War blindness. It will be seen that the work of caring for such unfortunate men must continue unabated, and it stands high to the credit of those associated with the institution that, despite the financial stringency and other difficulties encountered in recent years, they have not lessened in any way their humanitarian task. Rather have they sought even better ways of caring for their charges, training them to occupy useful positions in the world and generally teaching them to work and play—to be happy. Even after they have left the institution they remain “St. Dunstaners,” and no matter what difficulties they may afterwards encounter they can depend upon this famous organisation for assistance. In short, St. Dunstan’s “mothers” them with all the care it can bestow, and rightly does the report point with pride to its administration of the family of 2000 and their 5000 dependants. One of the most interesting features of the report is the statement that over 120 of the war-blinded men of St. Dunstan’s are now chartered masseurs with successful practices in different parts of the Empire. Doctors have spoken with enthusiasm of the peculiar skill—that compensation bestowed by Nature in an enhanced sense of touch and healing—of blinded men in this highly specialised branch of work. Many other trainees of the organisation are employed as telephonists—one of these can operate a 50-line switchboard and take down Braille shorthand messages at one hundred words a minute without turning a hair ! Warblinded men are also to be found in administrative posts; and there are clergymen’, lawyers, and public men among them. The majority are employed with their hands at such tasks as joinery, boot-repairing and basket-mak-ing. New Zealand has a special interest in this splendid institution, for of the Dominion’s 24-war-blinded men 23 have been trained at St. Dunstan’s. Whatever vocation he may be following, every St. Dunstan’s man is a living memorial to the famous founder of the institution, the late Sir Arthur Pearson, himself a blind man, who saw in the War an opportunity for service in leading the blinded soldiers to victory over their handicap.