THE OUTLOOK IN EUROPE

Otago Witness, Issue 3743, 8 December 1925, Page 31

THE OUTLOOK IN EUROPE

PROSPECTS IX BRITAIN. IMPRESSIONS OF NEW ZEALAND. ADDRESS BY THE HON. W. P. REEVES. About 50 prominent citizens of Dunedin and a few visitors assembled in the Somerset Lounge at the Savoy on Saturday night at the invitation of the Dunedin Chamber of Commerce for the purpose of hearing an address by the Hon. W. P. Reeves, who is now visiting New Zealand after being absent for many years. Mr F. M. Shortt (president of the Chamber of Commerce}, who occupied the chair, read apologies from the Hon. W. Downie Stewart, Sir John Roberts, -Sir John Sinclair, M.L.C., the Hon. C. E. Statham, M.P, and several others. He was very pleased to see such a large gathering. They were very glad to have with them Mr Ross (Commissioner cf the Canadian Court at the Exhibition), the Hon. Mr . Boyd (Commissioner from Fiji), Capt. Graham, Capt. Moore, Mr R. P. Hudson, M.P., Mr J. A. Young, M.P., and Mr T. K. Sidey, M.P. The executive of the Chamber of Commerce felt extremely fortunate in arranging that Mr Reeves should address them. Mr Reeves was well-known, to the older generation at any rate, and he was a good friend of the Dominion. He was a man who had filled many important positions, an author, a politician, and a much-travelled gentleman. EUROPEAN AFFAIRS. Mr Reeves, who was received with hearty applause, said he was very pleased to see such a large attendance in view of the fact that it was a Saturday night and that there were superior distractions outside. From the moment he had landed in New Zealand he had been absolutely spoiled by kindness. About an hour before he landed on his native heath he was seized upon by the enterprising journalists of Auckland. He said then in leply to inquiries about the outlook in Europo that he was very far from taking a pessimistic view. He was very far from taking such a view now. Since he had spoken at Auckland the Pact of Locarno had been signed. He did not attach too much importance to the signing of treaties, seeing that, a pact could be made a scrap of paper in the future, but he attached great importance to the fact that the signing of the Locarno Pact, had been the result of the overwhelming pressure of public opinion on the part of the masses throughout the world. It must have required very great pressure to drive the foreign nations to consent to such an agieement. lie did not sa; that it was so with the British Foreign Office. He did not suppose that Downing street required any pressure, but he thought ibat the pressure m France and Italy must have been very unusual indeed. He believed that the people of Eurooo wero widely anxious for peace and were determined to have it, and that there was a really fair expectation that peace would bo maintained for many years. It was not merely because of the fearful sacrifice of human life during the war or the dread that the civil populations had now of the tenable new weapons of destruction that military science had invented. It was due to those things and to hnaiina desperation and the knowledge that nad come home to them that another great war might mean the real rum ot civilisation. It was quite true that in several countries in Europo the people did not really want to govern themselves. In Spam. Italy. Russia, and Turkey the Government, under whatever specious form it might be calltil, was'really military despotism, but even despotism had to pay attention to the mass of the people when their wishes, were milly strong, and no Mussolini Irotsky, 01 Mustapha Kemal could aitord to disregard the determination on the part of their masses to remain at peace. He was sme this feeling was no less strong in Germany than it was in other European countries and backing it all up was the moral influence and the imancial strength and power of the United States, which though capable of selfishness, "a matter quite in the right in being determined to have nothing to do with Europe if the latter went to war. therefore ho thought they might look foiuard with reasonable hopefulness to a long period of peace.—(“Hear, hear,” and applause.) Ot the things that were necessary to bring about a return of prosperity and a revival of commerce and enterprise, peace «as absolutely the first that was essentia Without that they could do nothing, and for that reason he had put it in front. BRITISH TRADE AND FINANCE.

He had tra'elled in Europe and had been in a position to get a fair amount of information in Englahd, and ho thought that the industrial state of Europe was not as bad as might be gathered from the newspapers. The people of Europe, in spite of political squabbles, were at work. lor some years they have been at work binding up the wounds of war and filling up the gaps made by the horrible waste resulting from four years of fighting, lie thought that anyone travelling about Europe would be surprised at the extent to which this work has gone, particularly in some of the politically disordered countries. He thought that, as production was steadily increasing in Europe it was economically certain that trade must revive in England. As a matter of fact,, as far as the latest figures showed, England had not fallen bark in the proportion of European or world trade which she did. The reason why her trado was worse was that there was less world trade and less European trade, and what there was was less profitable. He saw no reason why England should not continue to do her share of the trade, and he thought that her share might increase in profitableness. He admitted that England's position was difficult and that there were people there who had to bear a burden to a degree that was almost unprecedented. The people of England and Scotland had made enormous sacrifices in the determination to be honest in their dealings with the rest of the world and to pay what they owed to other countries, whilo they were willing that other countries should owe them money. It had been a Herculean policy and a terribly heavy burden, but noneßty was the best policy, and he believed that England and Scotland would reap their reward in the end. The British Government was impos-

ing crushing taxation, which hampered industry. Certain industries were hampered, and the depression and the present altitude of Labour in England caused a difficulty. They might be told that these things presented a problem which was incapable of solution, but he did not believe it. lie thought that the maintenance of the stability of British finance was of such importance that it had been worth considerable sacrifice. Britain paid her debts and did not press her debtors. She was the only great country in Europe that did pay her debts. The return to the gold standard and the maintenance of stability had been of great value to the Treasury in view of tne great unemployment problem and the depression in trade. The financiers in Britain were taking long views. There was not only the advantage which the gold standard gave in dealings with America, but there was something even more important, he thought, which influenced men in London, and that was, looking ahead, they could see no chance of lightening the terrible burden of interest on rneir colossal debt except by the gradual conversion of the maturing loans into loans bearing a substantially lower rate of interest. They regarded this as possible, and he thought it could be done if the Treasury and the stability of British finance were maintained. lie was inclined to think that the making of such terms as we made with America and the return to the gold standard at the moment Britain did return would be justified by time. He had confirmed that view after some study.—(Applause.) BOLSHEVISM ON THE WANE. He did not pretend that in England they were free from difficulties. They might or might not agree as to the wisdom of having a separate Labour Party. They might think that it encouraged class bitterness and led to class warfare and the intensification of strikes and Labour conferences, but the Labour Party was there and it would remain there. He thought they must try to accept that and consider what cheering circumstances there were in the outlook. Whether there was a Labour Party or not he did not think there was any reason for despair when they looked forward to the part likely to be played by Labour in politics. There was a noisy and active element in the Labour Party which was not satisfied unless it was endeavouring to embitter the relations between the party and the rest of the nation. There were crazy extremists. Some wanted to have a strike every day and a riot once a month, but they were in a very small minority. Their noise was far out of proportion to their numbers, and they had managed to alarm the middle classes, or the more timid of the middle classes very considerably and also to alarm and exasperate the more moderate section of Labour. The leaders of the more moderate section of Labour were men of considerable knowledge and ability. He could name half a dozen who were quite worthy and capable of holding a position in any Government which might be formed in Britain. He did not think these men would go down without a struggle or see their parly wrecked and made retrogressive if they could prevent it. They realised that between them and the Bolshevists there might be a struggle of life and death. The intelligentsia—the leaders' of the party—had no intention of taking it lying down, and if anyone went to the wall it would not be that body.—(Applause). Mr Thomas was quite as far removed from Bolshevism as the president of the Dunedin Chamber of Commerce was, and was quite as much alive to the fact that Bolshevism had done the Labour cause and th© Socialistic Labour cans© more harm than anything else during the last 50 years. The Bolshevists were a trouble and nuisance in Europe, and they would carry on as long as they thought there was soil fit to take their seed, but further than that they could not go. They were short of money, and the majority of their population would not be dragged into war. In Russia they were tolerating Bolshevism because it enabled them to seize land from the landlords. As long as Bolshevism let them alone they would put up with it and support it, but they were not going to be dragged into a great war of aggression and see their brothers and sons slaughlered. He thought the dangers of Bolshevism were limited. Where Bolshevist propaganda should be successful it was not successful. In Germany in particular it had been curiously unsuccessful so far. It had no chance in America, and he did not think it had any chance in England.

PROGRESSIVE NEW ZEALAND. Speaking of the condition of things in his native land Mr Reeves said it was quite obvious that the man who had been absent for 30 years and came back could contrast the present state of New ZealanJ with that of 30 years ago, and it was inevitable that his point of view would differ to some extent from that, of thpse who had remained in the country. They were concerned in carrying on the country and saw the seamy side, the defects, and the requirements of the moment, and had to meet and deal with them,' and were often less impressed with what had been done than with the problems of what had still"to be done. He could see the real and extraordinary amount that had been done during 30 years, and the transformation of the New Zealand of 1895 to the New Zealand of 1925, and if therefore he did not seem to attach enough importance to the difficulties, drawbacks, and defects that existed as he should, it was perhaps because he could do nothing but keep his eye on what had actually been accomplished. It was so great, so remarkable, and so striking that he could hardly think of anything else.—(Applause.)

IMPROVED TRANSPORT. For instance transport had been improved. On© bad only to travel in the steamers to realise the change that had been accomplished. The improvement between Lyttelton and Wellington was most marked. He remembered Mark Twain’s description of a steamer leaving Lyttelton: “When we descended into the saloon it was as hot. ns hell, and as dark as the will of tho Union Steam Ship Company.” When he had found himself on the sweet smelling steamer that carried him lie hail been delighted, and what was true of the steniner services was to some extent true of other things. We were sometimes critical of our railway service, and he had heard strange things said about it in London. He hud found it much better than it had been reported to Ih>, and that there had been real improvejnents. He found the trains reasonably fast, and not uncomfortable, and had been treated with as much civility as on other trains. Motor trans port, In this country had rendered the means of transit quite different from the times when one had to travel by coach or train. He could speak with special gratitude of tho skilful driving of certain motor

drivers. He did this with special gratitude, because some of the country roads were not qnite as satisfactory as other things. In Otago and Southland he found the roadß fairly good, hut he came across places where they were hot good. The roads to Manapouri might have been worse. After passing through the green fertile country of Southland he had arrived at Tapanui, and the motor had fairly run to iarth in a rich strip of deep, moist soil considered as a public highway. It took horses and chains to drag the car out. oe thought something still remained to be done to the roads in certain districts. But for the rest his impressions of the country and the people had been favourable with hardly any qualification. IRRIGATION IN CENTRAL OTAGO. Mr Iteeves next referred to the subject of irrigation. He said that by leaving by motor he had gone through Central Otago and had passed through all the irrigated country. He had seen the land that had been irrigated, and the country likely to be irrigated. He had passed by Clyde to Cromwell, and had gone over the country about PePmbroke. Finally he had gone across the Crown Rang* to Arrow and Queenstown, and was shown over properties there so that he had seen the irrigation in different districts and at different levels, and in some instances in different climates. He did not pretend to be an expert farmer, but he had had certain sources of information. He had had with him men who knew the country thor oughly, and these had given him the settlers’ views. He had had with him a Government official who had given him the official view. He had hud with him a man whose duty it was to know what the farmers were doing, to know teir financin' success, or otherwise, and what the financial outlook was. lie had visited property after property, and had used his own eyes, u*ui the net impression was that he did not think he had ever, in any part of the world, seen irrigation carried out and acting with such dramatic power. It was not often ht'stauhc not often that such a marked contrast was seen between unwatered and watered land. The contrast was so startling that he wondered whether the country aid not possess some specially good soil. He used to pick up the soil and see if there was any difference between the irrigated and the unirrigated land, but there was no difference. It was only the magic of water. It was impossible to imagine a greater contrast. 'I hey would tell him that enthusiasm was a dangerous thing when the hard facts of business had to be dealt with, and he would say that no one could be more anxious than he was that caution should be observed in any enterprise. He had read articles and letters on the subject of irrigation arid had seen that certain unofficial people had been talking about caution being necessary as to irrigation in Central Otago. He nad nothing to say against that. He would not examine casually a scheme of irrigation, but while some objections might have weight and caution was necessary, still, if they told him that irrigation iri Central Otago had reached its limit he would not be able to believe it for a minute. He had put innumeiable questions to everybody which were answered. He tried his best to get at the seamy side of things. In the course of a fairly long life he had mot men who had bought land, arid he had rarely met the man who was satisfied. He had never heard of rates that were not too high in the opinion of ratepayers. The matters he had heard of were after all matters of detail. There were mistakes made that would be remedied. He saw barren plains that had been turned into smiling fields and gardens. He saw people smiling and happy and most of them doing well. If they were not it was due to want of efficiency ; there was nothing wrong with irrigation. They might have gone on the land with insufficient capital, or they might not have paid enough attention to the land or wero not skilful farmers. These difficulties always cropped up, but were things that, could be overcome. He believed that irrigation would add to the prosperity of Otago. SCENIC BEAUTIES EXTOLLED. As to the scenery in the country through which he passed, continued Mr Reeves, it was not merely a question of alpine scenery. He had no idea that the beauty to be met with in a ■ dry country was so great as it was. He saw views that would delight the English artist. As to the lakes, they knew themselves what they were like and he, need hardly tell the mwhat a delight it w r as to see them. Mr Reeves went on to refer to several of the lakes in detail, and for the landscape painter. Manapouri was a place wher? a man might long to go after death. They had an asset there which must add enormously to the bank of the country in future years. If the people of Europe only knew what glorious landscapes New Zealand had the number of visitors would be trebled and quadrupled. He begged them to regard the beauties of New Zealand as a sacred trust, and not allow them to be marred or ruined in any way. IMPRESSIONS OF SOUTHLAND. He had been struck with the changes the years htrd brought about in Otago and Southland. They would say that something should be done in cleaning up certain districts in Southland. He could not help saying that in passing through Southland it seemed to him to have some country that should be capable of carrying twice the population it did. Great as the change in the larger centres had been, he could see considerable trace of the old towns. But as to Invercargill he .thought at first that the old town of 36 years ago must have been swept away by flood or swallowed up by earthquake. It was an extremely clean, comfortable city, and had grown wonderfully. CONFIDENCE IN THE FUTURE.

He hod heard grumblings since he had come back to New Zealand. If a New Zealander did not grumblo it would be contrary and false to the traditions of the race, lie had heard the older men were saying that the younger generation was not worthy of the past; that it wanted to take things easier, live comfortably, and get an easy job. Ho had heard precisely the same thing in New Zealand 50 years ago. He was then one of the younger generation, and wanted to have a comfortable time, and was on the look-out for a soft job. The trouble was that in those days there were no soft jobs going. He saw an imimmense amount of work being done in New Zealand in which the younger generation was doing its part. He oould not believe that the problems would not be solved and he was quite sure that young New Zealand would be quite equal to the tasks before it.—(Loud applause.)

VOTES OF THANKS. Mr H. C. Campbell propcaed a very hearty vote of thanks to Mi Reeves for his interesting address. The remarks made by Mr Reeves concerning Otfgo, ho said were very gratifying. The motion was carried by I >ud applause and an adjournment was then made for supper. At the conclusion of Mr Reeves’s ad dress, Messrs T. K. Sidey and J. A. Young M.P.’s (Hamilton), thanked the Chambei eif Commerce for the invitatiou to be present.