THE OTAGO DAILY TIMES TUESDAY, AUGUST 20, 1935. THE PRIME MINISTER’S RETURN

Otago Daily Times, Issue 22654, 20 August 1935, Page 8

THE OTAGO DAILY TIMES TUESDAY, AUGUST 20, 1935. THE PRIME MINISTER’S RETURN

It is not difficult to understand the enthusiasm underlying the Prime Minister’s comment on the emergence of Great Britain from the depression years with her power and prestige more firmly established than ever before. Mr Forbes has had the fullest opportunity of acquainting himself with the immensity and complex nature of the problems which the British Government and people had to face. Yet, in spite of the collapse of trade brought about by market shrinkage on an unprecedented scale, in spite of constant Ministerial preoccupation with vital problems of foreign policy and in spite of the spectacle of political chaos that Europe presented, the Government was able to apply itself calmly and methodically to the colossal task of adaptation and reorganisation to which the economic upheaval gave rise internally. In this work it was immensely encouraged by the tradi-

tional calm of the British people in a period of crisis. It is time that certain minority sections were clamant for revolutionary departures from the accepted principles of sound government. But there was no popular demand for the adoption of panic measures. Instead, the country placed itself solidly behind the National Government, bore temporary burdens uncomplainingly, and assisted its leaders to restore, in a few short years, a measure of budgetary stability that has made Great Britain, as Mr Forbes remarks, the envy of most of the other nations of the world. The Prime Minister is, of course, stating the obvious when he says that a prosperous Britain means an ample and remunerative market for our produce. When the full benefits of the conversion operation and the marketing agreement are properly appreciated the folly of the criticism concerning the “ expense ” of sending Ministerial delegations overseas should be effectively exposed. It will not be quashed entirely, of course, because opponents of the Government will seek, on the eve of a general election, to make political capital out of anything calculated to impress the unthinking. But the majority of the electors will not be deceived by arguments to which the Government will have a very satisfactory answer. In the meantime the Prime Minister and the Minister of Finance have returned to find the evidences of recovery still strongly manifesting themselves in the Dominion. The success of the British Government’s policy, as Mr Forbes points out, has more than justified the means employed by the Coalition Government to meet the special problems in New Zealand, and it is gratifying to know that the determined effort made by the Dominion to assist its producers and generally to stabilise its financial position is fully appreciated in Great Britain.