CONDITIONS OVERSEAS.

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXIX, Issue 21136, 19 March 1932, Page 12

CONDITIONS OVERSEAS.

GREAT BRITAIN'S SPIRIT. EVE GF TRADE REVIVAL. UNITED STATES DEPRESSION. Comments on business conditions overseas were made yesterday by Mr. W. A. Anderson, a prominent Sydney business man, who is returning from abroad to Australia by the Sierra, which arrived at Auckland yesterday. Mr. Anderson was particularly impressed by the manner in which Great Britain had faced a period of crisis and had laid successfully the foundations for an early improvement in trade. " One cannot help being struck by the different conditions obtaining in England and the United States', Mr. Anderson said. " The depression seems to have struck America with startling suddenness and the people seem dazed by it. i hey are faced with the necessity of adapting themselves to an entirely new scale of values. Incomes have shrunk, and in some cases dwindled almost to nothing, industry is in a serious plight, and many of the banks have their hands full with financial worries. " In England there is an entirely different outlook. England has experienced lean times for some years, but now she is fighting the depression. There is no suggestion that the British are dazed; they are more alive and more nationally virile than they have been for years. In fact, the general view is that Great Britain is oil the eve of a great industrial revival." Co-operation in Empire. One had to travel to realise the true significance of the last general election in England," 4 Mr. Anderson said. It had meant not only the salvation of England, but it had acted as a beacon of encouragement to the whole world. Countries like the United States and Germany, which were indirectly interested, had immediately taken heart from' the return of a stable Government in England, even though that Government was legislating against foreign imports. How much more, then, should the Dominions, which were directly interested, derive encouragement from the new order of things, which seemed to point conclusively toward a greater degree of Imperial co-operation and development ? " Last year's crisis in England and the depression, which at present has nearly every country in the world in its grips, seem to teach one lesson of outstanding importance," Mr. Anderson said. "In the past cur basis of trade has been entirely wrong. Countries have been importing far in excess of their exports, and have failed to realise that they cannot continue to do so indefinitely. The ideal of every country is to be nationally self-supporting. Burden of War Debts. " In this direction the United States has a considerable advantage. A population of 120,000,000 means a huge internal buying power, which will assist greatly in the ultimate recovery of the country. But Australia's case is different. She has a population of 7,000,000, and in theory her world-wide exports should only be equal to the imports necessary for the requirements of 7,000,000. This is where the policy of Empire trade will manifest itself. With the whole of the British Empire developed into one economic unit, possibilities for trade within the Empire will widen tremendously. This is our great hope for the future. " There is a very definite trend in public opinion in Europe toward the cancellation of war debts and reparations, and it seems that, comprehensive proposals will be made to deal with these matters in the near future. I honestly believe that the United States favours the abolition of war debts. Leading Americans have come to realise that the system is uneconomic and that it is placing a burden on trade not only in the debtor countries, but also in the creditor countries, chief among which is, of course, the United States. A solution to the war debts and reparations problems will be of inestimable value to world trade."