A DISMAL PICTURE

Otago Daily Times, Issue 21734, 27 August 1932, Page 11

A DISMAL PICTURE

IRELAND FACING RUIN EFFECTS OF TARIFF WAR DEMAND FOR SETTLEMENT (United Press Association.) , (By Electric Telegraph—Copyright.) LONDON, August 26. (Received August 26, at 7 p.xn.) Conditions in the Free State to-day Bre described by the special correspondent of the Morning Post. The writer, who is himself an Irishman, says: " Nature has given us a bountiful harvest, but at the roots 'there is the canker of creeping economic paralysis. There is no demand for the abundant hay and pasture, while horses, cattle, sheep, pigs, butter, and eggs are unsaleable owing mainly to the British tariff, which falls entirely on the"producer. Land has depreciated in value, so that farms are practically unsaleable, A large proportion of the farmers are faced with bankruptcy, and the shopkeepers are refusing further credit. The country is faced with ruin unless the tariff war is ended. A settlement is demanded by all sections with the interests of the country at heart, but many think that Mr de Valera does not want peace, but desires to continue the struggle as part of his avowed campaign for a republic. The farmers, who believed that he intended to abolish the land annuities, now find themselves compelled to pay him instead of the British Government. Moreover, he has failed to find any alternative to the British market, which his policy is closing. The salaries of the civil servants and teachers are endangered, while banking and other classes of business which are dependent on the farmers are paralysed by their distress. Many people sum up the situation in the words: ‘Money is rapidly the country; arms are rapidly coming in.’” The, 'correspondent, expresses the opinion, however, that any attempt to overthrow the Constitution will be foredoomed to failure.