YOUNG FARMERS' SCHOOL

Otago Daily Times, Issue 22295, 22 June 1934, Page 5

YOUNG FARMERS' SCHOOL

YESTERDAY'S SESSION INTERNATIONAL TRADE AND PROBLEMS INTERESTING,SERIES OF ADDRESSES The young farmers' educational course was continued in the Chamber of Commerce board room.yesterday, when a further series of. interesting addresses was delivered. The programme commenced with an address on " International Trade" by Mr James Begg, who was followed by Mr H. P. Kidson (rector of the Otago Boys' High School), who dealt with "International Problems. In the afternoon a visit was paid to the University, where Dr R. Jack (professor of -physics) lectured and demonstrated on the subject of "Waves'of Many Kinds. Later the party went, through the Ji-ven-injr Star Office. In the evening the visitors . were the guests of the ,Otago Farmers' Union Mutual Fire Insurance Association at a social gathering and smoke concert in the Tudor Hall, Savoy. INTERNATIONAL TRADE Introducing the subject of international trade, Mr Begg said that all trade was simply the exchange of some commodity for another, one service tor another. International trade was tied up with exchange, balances, and currencies; but. for all its entanglements and complications it was still simply a system of exchange. In primitive society when men lived m self-contained tribes, cut off from each other, their chief occupation when they met was fighting. Then they began to realise the advantages of barter, and in the exchanges which began then were the beginnings of international trade, which, after all, was no modern thing. It was really as old as the world. The speaker instanced the way in which world trade developed from the days when Egypt tirst began to trade with Asia. From time to time the world centres of trade shitted from one country to another. It was there that the complications of : modern trade began. Conquered, countries paid tribute with their produce,, and got nothing for it. Still it was a very simple type of trade. There was no complication of finance, simply barter Then came the Elizabethan era, when bold spirits began to push out over the seas. I lie sea way to India was found, America was discovered, and the Indies were opened up. As long as there wa s something to be had the countries fought, and each annexed something for itself. -H"t in spite of all the fighting trade sprang up between them. With the passing of the vears the great trade routes came into being, with little England as the point upon which all the main, routes Trade grew to enormous dimensions, aiid' complications' began to arise. The younger countries borrowed money from the older for their development and this; brought about a sudden development.of trade. Interest had to be paid on that money, and the borrowers shipped produce to pay it. Jiut as long as that produce was paying interest no . demand was created for the produce of the older countries. To get something for their produce the younger countries had to increase their output. At the present time ships came to Mew Zealand empty and returned crammed to the hatches. This might seem to be bad trade, but they must remember that Mew Zealand had to send £10,000,000. worth of produce to Britain to pay the interest on its debt. It was this as much as 'anything that caused the complications of modern trade. ■■. '.'• ■ AH the countries of the world to-day were striving for favourable trade balances. Some'could achieye.it, but not all. The huge debts piled u,p by the war had caused complications which threatened to bring trade.to a standstill. They should remember that no cash passed between countries. It was all exchange. In the past four years international trade had shrunk.s.o per cent.,.and England was now carrying only about 28 per cent, of the world trade,.*.whereas a few years ago her ships carried 50 per cent. , There were idle ships everywhere to-day because of the strangling of trade by modern complications. British shipping was in effect an invisible export trade and the decline of it represented a serious reduction of British trade., No country could afford trade reductions or no trade. None was so wealthy that it could live without trade. Individuals might be able to live on investments without producing, but nationally-such a state of affairs was unthinkable. New Zealand produced a greater value of exports'per head of population than any other country in the world. its population was> well-bred from good stock and this attribute combined with the natural advantages of the country resulted in the building up of aiarge export trade, upon which the standard of living and luxury depended. Half a dozen commodities bought everything for New Zealand, and if the farmers stopped producing them the supplies of imports would immediately be cut off. It did not follow that f because one country took New Zealand produce New Zealand must take something from that country in return. It was not as simple as that. Everything, was done on credit and the establishment of a credit in one country generally provided the facilities for trading with an entirely different country. It was a many-cornered arrangement and far from simple. The basic principle, however, was. that no country could get rich simply by exporting. It must import also or go to the wall. ~ ' . ■' ,', One of the greatest complications of the times was the economic nationalism which had recently developed. It made, for a self-contained sufficiency which must have very deleterious effects on trade. If one country was in a position to do that it was the United States. They had. tried to live to themselves and had tailed. If they could not do it no one else in the world could expect to. That economic nationalism was strangling trade in a dozen ways, and until the countries of the world realised that they were actually dependent upon one another and could not do without one another, it would be impossible to shake off the shackles which bound and restricted the world's trade. A vote of thanks was passed to Mr Begg on the motion of Mr Kingsley Whiteside (Waipahi). INTERNATIONAL RELATIONS Mr H. P. Kidson (rector of the Otago Boys' High School) spoke on the subject of international relations. He stressed the fact that no one to-day could isolate himself from the events of the outside world, no matter how remote from cities his habitation might be. It was impossible for either the individual or the nation to ignore the significance and meaning of the things that were occupying the attention of the world at large. Introducing his subject Mr Kidson dealt at some length with the particular characteristics of the various nations as expressed in the attitude which recent events have induced. He visualised for his hearers the average young man of the times, and the outlook which has been engendered in him by the peculiar conditions existing in his country. He dealt with the United States. France, Germany, Italy, Japan, and China,, instancing the problems of each simply as facets of the greater world problems which were causing so much trouble and difficulty. If an American were to enter the room and he was asked how business was he would say: ' It was pretty sick, but it's recovering now,' adding " bally-hoo " as a means of boosting up his spirits. He would say that there wore unemployed and cases of starving in his country; but that would soon be" altered. On the other hand, the attitude of a young man from France would be different. He would be polite, but would say that life was hard, and he had no friends. He would be as crafty and insincere as ever. He would show fear and mistrust, and one might ask him why he could not be a little magnanimous and meet his difficulties halfway. However, on reflection, it would be seen that he had learned his cynicism in a dear school, his country having been twice blasted by the Germans.

Crying "Hail, Hitler! " the young German would click hie heels, and appear tense, truculent, and inspired. He would also say that life was hard, but that Hitler would settle that. His country was on the horizon of a new era, and it would be a case of Germany for the Germans. He would say: "We hate you all; you will grind us no longer."

The disposition .of the Italian would be cheerful-and sunny. "Mussolini will see to that," would be his answer to all questions. ;j The Rumanian would be ill-clad, illkempt,- and ill-fed, but he would say he was happy. Everything would be all right, he would say, "if you let us alone." . Hostile, hard, sinister, capable, and quietly sure, the Japanese would not be questioned very much, but if a stray question or two were put to him he would say: "You do not understand; you are all against us. We have a poor land. You sell goods to my people, but you won't take our goods. We must have part of. China." The Chinese would be garrulous, simple, and honest. "You help us, eh? he would ask, and that was the. symbol of his failure.

" By bringing before you in imagination young men of your own age from other lands," continued the speaker, "I have endeavoured to show you some of the burdens that are weighing heavily upon the nations at the present time. All of them are . perturbed, unp'rosperous, and most are suspicious, or frankly afraid of their neighbours. Through fear and lack of confidence, their trade with other lands has dwindled. Many of them have handed themselves over body and soul to desperate political experiments. Most of them are hopelessly endeavouring to be ecoriOr niically self-contained. All see the futility of war* but all feel that it is desperately near to them. The atmosphere is one of suspicion, lack of faith in their neighbours. This is all the worse, because the nations who signed the League Covenant saw the light of international trust and co-operation. 1 "Perhaps the prime cause of our descent into these wretched depths during the last few years is the failure of .the signatories to the Covenant of the League of Nations to keep faith with their word and to make the sacrifices for the general good that the Covenant demanded. ■'.'■ : •'>

"The Covenant was a splendid affirmation that war as a means of settling disputes was mad futility. The signatory Powers agreed that the maintenance of peace required the reduction of national armaments to the lowest possible point, and agreed to the enforcement by common action of international obligations. ; I want to emphasise this: that .they all agreed to the application of certain sanctions or penalties—unfortunately,' illdefined—against a nation which committed an unprovoked act of aggression. "This collective action against an aggressor was the essential part of the Covenant signatories' plan '-for" making war _ impossible and for giving that security and protection which is the only condition that will bring about. disarmament. ■■','•

"While we can pay tribute to the League for the splendid work it has dohe in the general field of human welfare, and while we can join with the Russian Ambassador in Paris in recognising. that, in spite of its failures and imperfections, it is still'able to some extent to cheek aggressive tendencies, we know that in the main work of organising peace it has failed. Of the signatory Powers to the Versailles Treaty the vanquished remains embittered,' and is in open revolt against its provisions. The victors are unable to rely on one another sufficiently to fulfil their own part of the bargain—the part that, concerns disarmament.. One of the signatories to the treaty and to the Covenant of the League has,, in the opinion of the others, brpken. its word and committed an act of aggression, and no sanctions have been applied. With the exception of Germany, which is openly rearming, and possibly of Rumania, all the great nations are armed more powerfully than theywere in 1924. ....-.." "Many of us are feeling that the only solution of them. is a return to the Covenant and a clear definition of the sanctions that should, be applied against an offending nation and an organised planning of the method of their application. Not until.the nations agree to collective action will • the necessary feeling of security, be gained that will be the prelude to disarmament. The sanctions may be diplomatic, economic, or, at the last resort, military; It is claimed that even a "mineral" section (the prohibition of all exports of minerals to an offending Power) would quickly cripple any nation, 60 delicate are modern metallurgical processes and machines. , _ # " Pledging ourselves to such action m a set of circumstances that are unknown is abhorrent to us all. But what is the alternative? If wc cannot agree to this collective action, what must we do? We must make' ourselves strong, enough to resist any nation or combination of nations that may attack us. Or else we must make an alliance with another nation for mutual protection. And an inevitable armaments race will begin, with war as its. inevitable result. An, armaments race means an intolerable burden, and it means war. This seems the only alternative to the loyal adoption of: the principle of collective security, which appears to be without doubt the "In this .new. attitude Britain must take the :■ lead. ■ On. her statesmen rests this immense responsibility. Once her word were clearly given and-the sanctions to be adopted were clearly defined, I feel sure that there would be a rapid change of attitude on the part cf the other Powers. . France's demand, for security—and who can blame her for making it?—would" be satisfied. An. allround disarmament would .be; possible, and Germany's sense of justice satisfied. A strong lead from. Britain is the only thing that can bring any hope to the nations at this time—a declaration and -a guarantee that it will combine with the other members of the League, even , to the extent of using armed force, a gainst an aggressor. . " To strengthen the League in this way seems our only hope.' What alternative is there to the League? And what should our personal attitude be in this unhappy situation? We are told by men like Dr Norwood that we must cleanse our hearts arid minds of mistrust and hate, and bring the Christian spirit and ideals to bear on these problems. But what must our definite and immediate attitude be? In abstract theory it may be right for the Christian to say that he will en _no account take up arms. But the taking of such a personal pledge at this stage will not stop war." Mr Kidson answered several questions, and on the motion of Mr Gerald Newlands (Ngapara) was accorded a vote of thanks. "WAVES OF MANY KINDS" Dr Jack's address and demonstration on "Waves of Many Kinds" was thoroughly enjoyed by an audience which made no secret of the impression made upon it. • Dr Jack described in simple and illuminating words the peculiarities of water waves (as when a stone is thrown into water), light waves, wireless waves, sound waves, and electric waves. A water wave, he explained, was called a transverse wave because the particles of water were moving up and down, although the rest was moving, along. . Sound waves, on- the other hand, were longitudinal. In wireless the distance from crest to crest was one wave length, and in Dunedin the distance from crest to crest of the wireless waves sent out was about 400 yards. " We have other waves < far shorter, Dr Jack said. "The length of a blue light wave, for instance, is only one fiftythousandth of an inch, while there are others shorter than that." The term "frequency was also explained by Dr Jack, who said ; that a low note produced few waves, while with a high note the number was increased, so that the pitch of a note depended on its frequency —the number of vibrations 1 SGCOnQi The speaker then gave a number of demonstrations comprising experiments in sound Setting up a vibration in a couple of organ pipes he made certain combinations of sound and explained the reason for certain changes in the pitch. He also caused small gas flames to sing on a hiph note in glass tubes, but his most interesting demonstration, and certainly the most spectacular, was done by means of an instrument resembling a square box with a small lamp face in it. A switch was pressed, and across the class •tace t-Wetl a thin green horizontal tube of light, **>e a pencil. Dr Jack then spoke into a mouthpiece, and the light twisted and danced furiously all the time he was speaking, contorting itself into strange designs and jumping up and down continually. This was caused by the sound waves from the speakers voice, the light reaotinc; to each wave as it struck it. A reed instrument was blow.n into the mouthpiece, and it was seen that the movements, while just as excited, were sharper

in outline. This instrument has many uses to science, and can be used in studying heartbeats, any change being instantly recorded. One of Dr Jack's students, speaking into an ordinary radio amplifier acting in reverse, made a gramophone record of his own voice with which he was able to demonstrate' immediately afterwards. An X-ray demonstration followed, Dr Jack explaining that all that was done was to send little electric particles up against a plate, and out of that plate came the X-rays. He held up a purse, and its contents were dimly seen, as also were the contents of a wooden box. " Some students try putting their heads there," Dr Jack said with a smile, " but sometimes their heada are too dense." Colour and light vibrations were also dealt with, arid Dr Jack showed how, by directing certain..!ays from a lantern oil to a bunch of flowers, their original colour wag superseded by another combination of colours.' Illustrations of vibration were also given by means of a machine which vibrated a length of string and also by means of a rubber flex stretched across the room which Dr Jack agitated, and on which the waves could be clearly seen as they moved backwards and forwards. .. Dr Jack concluded his address by pointing out that these experiments served to show, that by understanding natural phenomena they could find a. great deal of interest in what they saw around them. A. very cordial vote of thanks was moved by lan Dallas (Balclutha). VISIT TO STAR OFFICE On arrival at the Star Office the lads were received by the managing director (Mr C. Stanley Smith), and conducted to the rotary-driven machine, which was printing, cutting, and folding Stars at the rate of 500 per ! minute. The lads were then conducted through the various departments and shown envelope making, I 'job printing, etc., which was in progress. Great interest was shown in the photographic department, where blocks were being made from photographs for printing purposes. 4YA BROADCASTING STATION Through the courtesy of Mr Nissen, the director, the lads were shown over the 4YA broadcasting station and told something of the way in which broadcasts are made. At the conclusion, Mr Boyd Bapson (Ngapara) moved a very hearty vote of thanks to the managements of the Evening Star and the broadcasting station for their kindness in making the visit possible. TO-DAY'S PROGRAMME 'The course, will be concluded with today's session. The first feature will be an address on " The Romance of Modern Business" by Mr G. Lane,.of the Mosgiel Woollen Company, Ltd. Later in the morning Messrs A. C. Cameron and S. D. Blomfield will speak on the scope and activities of. young farmers' clubs. In the afternoon a visit will be paid to the Roslyn Woollen Mills., The evening will be free, but arrangements have been made for those interested l to visit the Observatory. • SOCIAL GATHERING • PRESENTATIONS TO OFFICIALS. Last evening the Otago Farmers' Union Mutual Fire Insurance Association tendered the young farmers a social which was held.in the Tudor Hall at the Savoy. There was a large gathering, and the function proved one of the most successful of the week. The chair was occupied by Mr A. B. Struthers (Farm Accountancy Association). . During the evening opportunity was taken to make presentations to three of the officials—Messrs A. C. Cameron (general manager of the Otago Farmers' Mutual Insurance Association and orcaniser of the Young Farmers' Week), C. F. Jones. (secretary for Otago of the Young Farmers' Club movement), and S.-D. Blomfield (general secretary for New Zealand of the movement). Messrs J. Clearwater (Palmerston), A. Pannett (Cb'devale), and A. T. Heckler (Waikoiiaiti) made the presentations,, and each spoke briefly, referring to the excellent work done by the recipients for the movement in New Zealand, and particularly in Otago. Mr Cameron was given a travelling rug, Mr Jones a safety razor, and Mr;Blomfield a pipe'. The'recipients suitably returned thanks. ' Mr M. A. Kinney, (Hyde), president of the Otago Farmers' Union, who was introduced by Mr Cariieron, spoke of the good work which'was being done by the movement, and on behalf-of the Farmers' Union he thanked all concerned with the Educational Week for their efforts on behalf of the boys. ' An enjoyable programme was presented, songs being rendered by Mr and Mrs J. E. , Davies (Diinediu), Messrs Howard Sutton' (Moa Flat), J. Becker . (Otu-i-ehua), William Kane (Becks), and A. B. Struthers (Duriedin), i and recitations being_given by Miss I. M'Gregor and Mr C. F. Jones (Dunedin). Orchestral items were provided, by a party organised by Mr E. S. Thomas, of the Mutual Insurance staff. . Very spirited community singing, was conducted by Messrs J. t). Davies and A.'B. Struthers, and Mr 11. Eggers was responsible for.some amusing feats of ventriloquism. During supper the toast of "The Ladies" was proposed by Mr C. F. Jones, supported by Mr Boyce Rapson and Mr A. Allison, and was replied to by Mrs J. F. Drake and Mrs James Begg.