RETURNED FROM ABROAD

Nelson Evening Mail, Volume LXVI, 2 May 1934, Page 2

RETURNED FROM ABROAD

AN AUCKLAND BANK MANAGER COMMENT ON WORLD AFFAIRS (By Telegraph—Press Association) WELLINGTON This Day., Mr T. 11. Easdown, manager of the Auckland branch of the National Bank of New Zealand, has just returned from a visit to the head office in London, and is staying in Wellington a day or two before resuming his duties at Auckland. He also visited the United States, Canada and France, and Australia. In an interview he said that New Zealand’s reputation in London was as high as ever .it was. It was fully and sympathetically recognised that we had our own domestic problems to solve, and were honestly trying to do so. People ho met were not disposed to adversely criticise the means adopted. Australia’s efforts were warmly commended and the city seemed very pleased with what had been done by the Commonwealth to put its house in order. There was certainly a trade revival at Home, but whether the improvement had staying power he was not prepared to say. Britain had to look to her export trade for permanency. It was not only markets that had to be discovered and developed, but the purchasing power of the people in those markets had to be taken into account. Mr Easdown spoke of Australia, saying that business was in much better heart than when he was there in 1932. In regard to President Roosevelt’s works in America, Mr Easdown agreed that his method was costly. The financing, however, was done by raising loans taken up by the banks and similar institutions. By 1935, he said, the United States public debt would not amount to the sum of the British public debt, and it was all internal and carried bv 130,000,000 people, compared with 40,000,000 in Britain. President Roosevelt was satisfying those clamouring for something to be, done, and time would show if their actions were effectual. Mr Easdown’s visit to Paris synchronised with the riots, which he said were much more serious than the French press allowed, because of the tourist traffic. He went to the Riveria, where deserted resorts showed how the rich were rich no longer.