NOTES AND COMMENTS.

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXIX, Issue 21113, 22 February 1932, Page 8

NOTES AND COMMENTS.

THE POUND STERLING. " The likelihood of a balanced Budget, while both France and the, United State* have, considerable deficits, will in time lead people, both in this country and abroad, to revise their opinions as to the intrinsic value of the respective currencies," said the London Financial News recently in reference to fluctuations in the exchanges. " Nevertheless, no spectacular appreciation of sterling can be expected for the time being, since a rise of a few points will quite probably bring forth new selling orders. But there seems to be good reason to" hope that tho undertone of the market will improve. After all, the liquidation of French balances must come io an end before very long. It, has already ceased to be the really formidable factor it was even a few months ago, when it, was assumed that French operations could bring about a disastrous slump of sterling to a fraction of its value. . . . As the French authorities must necessarily maintain a certain volume of sterling balances, the limit of their capacity to \vithdra<w funds from London will be within sight before very long. In fact, the nightmare of French balances, which for the. last five years has been a commonplace of city articles, may cease (o exist at no very distant date. French buying of Indian and South African gold will go a long way toward bringing us nearer to the day when one, of the principal bear points of sterling will pass into insignificance."

IMPERIAL PREFERENCE. " Imperial preference lias proved (he most effective method of fostering trade between Great Britain and the Dominions. It, has stood the test of time, and is the declared policy of every part of the Commonwealth," said General Smuts in a speech in Capetown. " The Ottawa Conference may become a real landmark in the economic development of the whole Commonwealth. South -Africa, at least, has never had such a chance to put forward her case. At a similar Ottawa Conference 44 years ago a great South African statesman made a proposal which, if it had been accepted, would have altered the course of history. Bub where Jan Hofmeyr failed in 1887 there is no reason why success cannot be achieved to-day, now that Great Britain has at last decided to alter her fiscal policy. I want our Government to possess the vision to enable it to take this If it' does, large markets will be opened and prosperity restored generally. Among the difficulties is the German Treaty. It is quite true that, so far as South Africa is concerned, a fatal clause in that treaty barred the way to an effective extension of Imperial preference. That clause in the treaty will have to go; otherwise the Government of this country will have to go instead. The people want markets, and when they have this glorious opportunity they must see that nothing prevents its acceptance. No German treaty or any either document must stand in the way." PAST AND FUTURE. Confidence that present difficulties will be overcome was expressed by Sir Charles Gordon, president of the Bank of Montreal, in his address at the annual meeting. "I would say to those who feel themselves more or less at a loss in estimating the future that wo* have one advantage in the Bank of Montreal possessed by few business institutions," he remarked. "We have an intimate record iu our own annals of the course of trade in this country for the past 115 years. Looking into that record we see reflections of periods of great prosperity and reflections of periods when conditions and outlook, not only in Canada, but throughout the world, were blacker than any we have experienced during the past two years. Just as the country has weathered previous storms, so now there is every reason to look forward with confidence to emerging stronger and more prosperous than ever from the conditions which now prevail. To this 1 would add that we, as a people, have additional reason for confidence in the fact that our accumulated resources are infinitely greater than at any like period in the past, and that our undeveloped wealth, which once was so largely a matter of speculative interest rather than of proven fact, is now known beyond any doubt whatever to exist to an extent far surpassing the most extravagant csimatcs of those who have gone before us." BOLSHEVISM AND THE WEST. "While Bolshevism is strong enough to have a profound effect on the development of Russia and some influence on the world at large, it is strong enough neither to remain unaffected by the material on which it works nor to sweep over the human race like a new Islam," says Captain J. do V. Loder, M.P., in a book recounting his experiences during two visits to Russia. "It may be that, in spite of every effort, time may not bridge the gulf which separates Bolshevism from Western civilisation. If both remain unchanged in their outlook, a conflict seems inevitable. They cannot exist permanently side by side as they are at, pros wit/ A case has, it is hoped, been made out to support a reasonable expectation that Communism may become so modified as to rnako a common basis of understanding possible. Hut it is no use pretending that this will happen unless Communism abandons some of its fundamental claims. The West cannot yield on essentials, though Western countries are also changing, and we may live to experience profound alter, ations of our social system. The crucial point is the restoration of the sovereignty of human personality in Russia, and such liberty can only come with peaco in the class war. Then tho war mentality will pass and the way be opened for the liarmonisation of such lessons as the Russian Revolution has to teach with the vital changes already in evident progress throughout the rest of the world."-