WORLD-WIDE ECONOMICS.

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXIII, Issue 19415, 25 August 1926, Page 10

WORLD-WIDE ECONOMICS.

The comments of Professor' Copland on the work of the League of Nations' permanent Economic Committee and its special committee entrusted with the preparations for an international" economic conference rightly emphasise the value of this work. Already much has been done to' justify the setting up of machinery to deal with the economic problems that have vexed some European countries and been the occasion of international ill-will in the* > world. The restoration of financial stability- in Austria and Hungary has been a very notable achievement. It is difficult to see howit could.have been accomplished without the expert co-operation hrought to bear under the aegis of the League. The effect of . such activity reaches very far. What Europe experiences of economic adversity and prosperity has an incidence,.more or less direct, on every commercial country in the world. There are many questions, of which customs formalities and double taxation are examples, calling for international treatment, and this cannot be given without some liaison body's collation of data and provision of a common forum. There is justification for the plea that there should be full representation of the Dominions on the committee preparing for the economic conference. The membership of that committee includes l-epresentatives of some countries without League status, such as Germany and the United States. The British members are relatively a Very small group, including Mr. ;Adara Shortt, was at one time a commissioner of the Canadian Civil Service, and Sir A. C. Chatterjee, High Commissioner in London for India. In the League's affairs the Dominions have virtual recognition as separate national members, and in economic questions they have points of view dictated by their various circumstances. Steps should be taken to have these view points represented in the cases of Australia, South Africa and New Zealand., The United Kingdom's spokesmen cannot speak with full effect for the Dominions, as is acknowledged in the separate representation of 'Canada and India. There is a risk that in the business of the economic conference their particular interests may be left out of account.