NOTES AND COMMENTS

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXXII, Issue 22099, 3 May 1935, Page 10

NOTES AND COMMENTS

EUROPEAN ALLIANCES A warning against Britain becoming involved in dangerous European alliances was voiced by Sir Herbert Samuel at a luncheon of the National Liberal Club. "Every nation in Europe naturally wishes Britain to underwrite its own claims," he said. ''l feel convinced that this country will be very chary of doing anything of that kind. If Britain were to do so the various States would have less inducement to come to an agreement between themselves on outstanding questions. Such guarantees could hardly fail to develop into alliances which would be a perennial source of friction. We have to be careful lest a policy of alliance should bs thrust upon us under the attractive guiso of a system of collective security. Wo see no reason why Europe should be kept in a state of constant apprehension because Herr Hitler is obsessed by an idea of the explosive force of Russian Communism, in the same way that Kaiser Wilhelm was obsessed by fears of the Yellow Peril," said Sir Herbert. "All these aro merely the hallucinations of fevered brains and can best bo dealt with by a strong doseof aspirin." It was also essential that Germany should cease deliberately to instruct her youth in the spirit of militarism. A glorification of power, for the sake of power, paganism which was ready to trample underfoot justice and morality, nationalism which saw a foe in every foreigner, and a belief that the only patriotism was to be found in a doctrine of blood and iron—that was the creed of criminal anarchists. MR. LLOYD GEORGE'S PLAN Advocating his plan for national action, Mr. Lloyd George said that recently there had been abundant evidence of a growing public opinion, by no means confined to one party, in favour of a bold initiative being taken by the Government in the direction of using public credit to substitute work for doles. He had consulted some of the most reliable financial experts in the country as to what money would be available each year, for capital expenditure on development of home resources, over and above what was required for the ordinary transactions of business and commerce. Lord Snowden, after a most meticulous examination of the figures of the national income, had come to the conclusion that there was a surplus of saving of at least £200,000,000 a year, and he was convinced that that sum could be applied forthwith and every year for the purposes of national development and reconstruction. Before the War this surplus was lent to foreign countries and to the Dominions, and, occasionally to the Colonies, for the development of their resources. A great deal was expended on wild-cat advances, and hundreds of millions had been lost in that way. They were making practically no advances at the present moment for enterprise, sound or unsound, across the eeas, and therefore tho money was available for opening up home resources. What were they doing with it? They were hoarding it. Treasuries throughout the world were always attacking individuals who hoarded gold. They were not nearly as foolish as Governments who hoarded credit. "If you hoard your gold it does not fructify; it doe's not sprout and bud and bloom and bear fruit. But if it were dug up in a hundred years it would still have its full value—perhaps a higher value—but if you hoard paper, and that is what unused credit means, it is not merely that it docs not grow and bring forth abundance, it soon crumbles. Worst of all, it is apt to rot. There are signs that it is beginning to rot in this country, as it did in America. Use it. Make it circulate. Get it to do work to produce something ere it is too late. It in better for its health."

IMPERIAL VISION " Last year the value of tho trade over the sea that passed between the constituent parts of the Empire was 110 less than £550,000,000," said the Princo of Wales at a livery dinner of the Honourable Company of Master Mariners. " The trade within the Empire serves its interests in two ways—not only does it assist development and contribute to the prosperity of all parts of the Empire, but it strengthens the material chain which binds the Empire together. We all regret that the economic disturbance of the world, which has created so many problems, caused so much suffering, has meant for tho time being contraction, or at any rate a check upon the expansion of trade between British Dominions and the Old Country. This, as we all know, is bad for all concerned. It is bad for the farmer overseas, it is bad for Great Britain, bad for manufacturers, and bad for the Mercantile Marine, which is not able to be employed to the fullest extent. Obviously a condition such as exists to-day, where theie is plenty of raw material overseas, and still too much evidence of poverty and malnutrition at home, must be regarded as an abnormal and temporary condition. Wo look forward to the time when once again we can accept all that the Dominions can send us without detriment to the interests of our own producers. Tho prosperity of this country has been built up on would trade and British ships carrying full cargoes to and from every quarter of the globe with everything available here at the cheapest rate. But there is hardly a commodity, be it either necessity or luxury, which the British Empire does not or cannot produce in ample quantity and finest quality. We must not, and we shall not, neglect our foreign trade, but it is by fostering trade within the Empire that we shall prosper, and it is because the growth of the Empire in the past has been made possible by tho courage and enterprise of British seamen that they must have their share in its future development. We can never forget tho part played in tho building of this great British Commonwealth by those mariners who sailed overseas amid countless perils and discovered new lands. Can wo not regard the component parts of the British Commonwealth to-day as engaged in a similar adventure —;v similar voyage of discovery, as partners in seeking to find a new world era of justice, co-opera-tiou anil peace. Tho voyage may be full of hazards, the sky may often be overcast, but if we go forth in the same spirit as the mariners of old went forth wo shall triumph over every obstacle and come at last to the haven where we want to be."