NOTES AND COMMENTS

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXX, Issue 21578, 24 August 1933, Page 8

NOTES AND COMMENTS

SIGNS OF RECOVERY "I am frequently asked where in the world can 0110 see any sign of recovery," said Mr. Walter Runciman, president of the Board of Trade, in a speech delivered a month ago. "My answer is a very simple one to-day. The first signs of recovery are to be found in our own country. The Minister of Labour 10 days ago was ablo to announce in the House of Commons that in this month, when there is usually* a riso in unemployment, there has, indeed, been a fall of 140,000. That in itself is a very comforting result. But a still more important piece of news was given last week by the Minister. It was that of the number of persons who are employed there are no less than 500,000 more than in January of this year. That, indeed, is one of the most important facts as regards the recovery of British industry and commerce. If we arc going ahead, what is the reason for it? I think it is due in the first place to the National Government, and in the second placo to the Board of Trade. We have made now seven trade agreements. We began with Iceland, one of our oldest customers, and wo took, in turn, Denmark, Norway, and Sweden. I hope that within the next week or fortnight we shall sign a trade agreement with Finland, and we are also taking, in turn, Latvia, Estonia, and Lithuania. We have also made an agreement with Argentina, and succeeded in releasing, no less than £10,000,000 sterling of frozen' credit. When trade agreements are called in question, I think you have been provided with sufficiently good arguments to down pessimism."

PHILOSOPHIES OF EMPIRE In a speech at a summer school of the British Empire Society, Lord Lloyd said the past 20 years had seen a great change in thfcir philosophy of Empire. It was time to set to work to build up again a sound philosophy on which an Imperial policy could be based. Discussing the dangers which, he believed, threatened tho British Empire at the present time, Lord Lloyd said that the most obscure and critical danger lay in the Statute of Westminster. So great was the confusion that had followed it that it had even become a matter of legal argument whether under this statute a Dominion Parliament might not pass a law altering the succession to the Crown. There was in the Empire to-day no central staff to co-ordinate the doings of the various communities. There was an urgent need for ensuring the inclusion of a very large number of Dominion men in the diplomatic and consular services. Perhaps the only fundamental mistake that anyone could make in Empire building was to get the wrong method of approach. He suggested that the only right method of approach was tho evidential one, which was based on truth. There was a danger that Imperial administrators would go out determined to have no definite principles of any kind. Others, in default of a practical policy, would go out armed with no guidance except vague dreams about the brotherhood of man and the perfectibility of human The second great need of an empire was its safety. Whether the Imperial defences were adequate to withstand invasion was a question very little discussed to-day. It would be fatal ever to believe politicians when they said there was no risk of war, for on that point they had always been wrong. With regard to sea power, practically never since the days of Nelson had they felt themselves safe with less than a two-Power standard, but they were far below that now. The Army, was reduced to dangerously small proportions. As to tho air, they had been reduced from first Power to sixth, and he supposed there was no one who would now feel entirely happy about their aerial defences. It was impossible for a country to increase its responsibilities and liabilities, and at the same time to reduce its assets, without taking a grave risk.

INDIA'S CONSTITUTION In a speech on the Indian constitutional proposals, Sir John Thomp-, son declared that they must go ahead toward the goal they had fixed. It was they who decided to give to India English education and education in British ideas, they who, in spite of warnings, decided to Indianise the Services, they who had , developed Indian self-government, had admitted Indians to the higher council, they who had given the Indian Princes the power of combination. It was all so characteristic of themselves and their absorbing belief in the benefits of English institutions. When they had had to make decisions it had never been a decision to turn back. Unity was something which India had never yet had. Once or twice in her long history she had seemed to approach it, but always it had eluded her. Never had she come so near it as under British rule, but the future must rest more largely with India than with Britain. Her heaviest task must be the removal of communal dissensions. If only Indians could keep tho political manifestations of religious feelings withifi bounds they would have achieved something which wo seemed no longer able to do. During tho discussion Sir John Thompson was asked whether he believed Indians would have greater success in preventing Hindu and Moslem strife than British administrators had. In his reply he said: —"People talk about the maintenance of tho Pax Britannica as one of tho greatest boons we have conferred on India. The Pax Britannica has nob been maintained for tho past 20 years. That is one of tho reasons why I think the coming changes may bo for tho good of India. Wo have always shown a great hesitancy in dealing with political agitation which masquerades as religious agitation. It completely puts us out of our stride. I believe a Mohammedan minister would never allow himself to be deceived about tho real value of religious agitation. That is why I believe Indians would be better equipped for dealing with communal strife than we are."