The Otago Witness. WITH WHICH IS INCOROTATED THE SOUTHERN MERCURY (TUESDAY, JUNE 28, 1932.) THE WEEK.

Otago Witness, Issue 4085, 28 June 1932, Page 43

The Otago Witness. WITH WHICH IS INCOROTATED THE SOUTHERN MERCURY (TUESDAY, JUNE 28, 1932.) THE WEEK.

'Nunquam allud oatuia, allud eapieutia dixit." Juvenal

"Good nature and good sense must ever Join."— furx.

With this issue the Otago Witness will

Ourselves.

cease publication. Established over SI years ago,

. on February 8. 1851, the Otago Witness ntay claim to have performed an important part in the development of the province, and to have exercised a conspicuous influence on national sentiment and affairs. It would be superfluous even to attempt to outline some of its outstanding achievements during a long and useful career. Time, however, brings inevitable changes, and the extension of modern transport facilities now places the Otago Daily Times every day where not so long since there was only a weekly mail, by which the Otago Witness arrived. In deciding to discontinue publication of the Otago Witness the proprietors fully recognise the popularity of many of its special features, and so far as is practicable these will lie transferred to the Otago Daily Times. This will provide the means of continuing and extending the bond of long-sustained association which has existed between the Otago Witness and its readers. " In the production of a large newspaper the helpful co-operation of many people is essential. The editor desires to record sincerely his high appreciation of the efforts of his immediate associates, contributors, and photographers, many of whom have served over a long period. In this connection it is fitting to express our cordial appreciation of the long and consistent loyalty of our readers. There are subscribers on our books who have been constant readers for over 50 years. To these and to all our subscribers we extend our warmest thanks. It only remains for us now to take our final leave of them. It is necessarily with a sincere feeling of regret on

our part that a mutually satisfactory relationship is now inevitably to be severed. We wish that they may experience personal happiness and material prosperity, and with a conviction that tiie task of producing a great newspaper for more than 80 years has been faithfully performed, we bid them farewell.

The problems which the world faces

To-day’s Problems.

to-day are complicated and diverse. Their ramifications are universal. In the inter-

national sphere there is, first of all, that of reparations and war debts. The urgent necessity of dealing with this question in a comprehensive way, so that a settlement having some guarantee of finality shall be reached, is now recognised by the nations. As we go to press for the last time the Lausanne Conference has still to announce the results of the conclave among the Powers. It is possible that no final decisions will be reached for a considerable period. Nevertheless, the position is most heartening. It has been made clear that the European nations have approached the discussions with more courage, a greater readiness to make adjustments and concessions, than heretofore. The plight of Germany has been recognised, and, more important, the Powers have acknowledged the connection between the present economic difficulties of the world and war debts and reparations. It is certain that in the ultimate decision regarding the future of these payments there will be evident a more tolerant spirit than characterised either the Dawes Plan or the later modified Young Plan. There is reason for the expression of a hope that the British formula for a prolonged moratorium, subject to certain agreements in respect of unconditional payments and payments in kind, may be adopted as a commencement to the abandonment of at least a great part of these international obligations.

War debts and reparations constitute but one aspect of the

The Tariff War.

general economic problem that the Powers are to-day investigating with

a view to adjustment. After many years of unprofitable economic warfare the nations appear to be now preparing to consider the question of tariffs in a new light. A lead in this direction was given by the International Economic Conference of 1927, which emphasised that the tariff war should be brought to a close. But in the years that have passed that struggle has, in point of fact, become more desperate. Tariff barriers have risen steeply, France and the United States being among the worst offenders, and the most recent development was the adoption by the British Government of a high tariff. This action served two purposes, first to protect British industry, and, secondly, to give the United Kingdom a bargaining instrument. The reports from Lausanne indicate that the Powers are now determined to put an end to this economic warfare. There has been talk of “ international Freetrade,” and it is proposed that after preliminary discussions a world conference to consider tariffs shall be held. The importance of these discussions at Lausanne can scarcely be exaggerated. High tariffs have had the effect of stultifying even

that international trade which the depression spared, and they have certainly acted as an important contributing cause to the depression itself.

Coincident with these stirring inter-

The Way to Peace.

national developments in war debt and tariff discussions there lias come

renewed stimulus to the work of the Disarmament Conference. This question, again, is one that cannot be projH’rly considered save in its relation to the economic disagreements that have gone far to prevent the flowering of the plant of international goodwill. With the war debt and tariff questions settled, disarmament would speedily become a practical possibility. President Hoover has chosen wisely, therefore, the moment for announcing his proposals for disarmament. The proposals are not in themselves radically different from a multitude already before the conference, but they go far to co-ordin-ate these varying formulae. When it is remembered that no less than thirtythree nations each submitted an individual scheme for disarmament, it will be recognised that co-ordination was necessary. The United States plan is not, of course, wholly acceptable. It will be regarded by the conference as too sweeping in some respects, and by Great Britain at least as very moderate in others. It serves, however, to provide a new basis for discussion, and gives impetus and direction, to the work of the conference, of which it was badly in need. The degree of agreement reached privately by the three principal Powers, France, America, and Great Britain, is, from all reports, considerable. and their influence, if applied to a modified version of President Hoover’s proposals, should assure that disarmament will be forced from a subject of somewhat academic discussion into the realm of practical affairs.

The promise of fuller co-operation in international affairs is

And to Prosperity.

matched by the prospect —it might even be called a certainty — that the

nations of the British Empire will shortly be drawn into a mutually profitable confederation for trading purposes. Already the British Empire is, through its integral unity, possessed of tremendous power and prestige, but the bonds are to a large extent compounded of sentiment and loyalty. None could deny their strength, but all must recognise that in this severely practical civilisation of to-cay mutual interests can best be guarded and extended by commerce. The Ottawa Conference provides the opportunity to the dominions to make their allegiance to Great Britain a real and vital aspect of national life. It is in their interests that they should do so. The Imperial Conferences at which the status of the dominions in their relation with the Mother Country has been defined on a solid basis have formed merely the groundwork upon which an Empire united both by mutual affection and respect and by mutual commercial interests can be built up. The possibilities are immense, the difficulties will prove considerable, but those who have faith in the British Empire—and that implies faith in its constituent parts—must believe that this great opportunity which now presents itself will be grasped and the British Commonwealth

of Nations will be consolidated as an even more invincible Power than ever in the past.

New Zealand has, as an inevitable result of the depression in

New Zealand’s Part

other countries, been confronted with a crisis

more serious than any other in her history (which is marked by more than one period of financial stress and unemployment). This Dominion is, as a primary producing country whose wealth is represented in the price of her products in overseas markets over which she has no control, subject to fortunes that vary according to the movement in older lands, especially in Great Britain. Our recovery must, therefore, be very largely dependent upon the progress that is made abroad in the regaining of financial

stability. Though we are, geographically speaking, small and remote from Europe, the problems of the Powers are essentially our problems also. Internally, New Zealanders, directed by a strong and competent Government, are resisting the damaging effects of the slump by singlehearted compliance with the demand of the moment —the reduction of expenditure in accord with the shrunken income. But while New Zealand is keeping its own house in order, it is natural that our eyes should turn anxiously overseas — to Lausanne, Geneva, Ottawa—for the problems which are the subject of consultation there are of moment to us. It is encouraging, therefore, from a national standpoint, as from a wide international view, that recent events and coining events bear promise of better times in the not-too-far-distant future.