TOPICS OF THE TIMES

Southland Times, Issue 21089, 22 May 1930, Page 4

TOPICS OF THE TIMES

References to the changes in the name of Russia’s capital recalls the fact that for many years it was inaccurately known as St. Petersburg. This error was originally launched by the German carographers, who gave it the Germanized spelling and tacked on the "Saint” without any justification. British map-makers followed suit, and in all the schools the pupils were taught to use this name, so that when Petrograd appeared at the beginning of the War it was believed that the Russians had taken this step to rid themselves of a German name. Actually Petrograd was the correct form, Anglicized it would be Peter’s Town, named after Peter the Great who built the city and who certainly was not a saint. The latter change to Leningrad was a bit of Bolshevik progressiveness, and the new name is not yet old enough to justify the claim that it is permanent.

Commenting on the re-election of Mr. Montagu Norman as Governor of the Bank of England for the eleventh year in that office, the City editor of the Times wrote: — No Governorship has ever lasted so long as Mr. Norman’s, and none has been so eventful. While the value of his work and the dimensions of his achievements will be better measured when the events of the past decade have passed into a longer perspective than is available now, no one will deny that financial and economic reconstruction both at home and abroad owes more to Mr. Norman and the Bank of England than to any other man or instiution. In the first years his efforts were devoted mainly to the financial reconstruction of the war-devastat-ed countries of Europe and to securing not ■only the adoption of sound principles, but also the provision of the necessary finance, which in those days was extremely difficult. In this work he took the first steps toward promoting international co-operation among the world’s leading central banks, and it is well known that, although not the author, he was a strong supporter of the Bank for International Settlements. The restoration of the gold standard, by which depreciated l currencies which had reduced trade to a gamble in exchange were made a thing of the past, was a cause in which Mr. Norman worked untiringly, and, as everybody is aware, was thoroughly successful. There has been much ill-founded and rather foolish criticism of the gold standard policy, but it has mostly come from those who fail to realize that money is but a measure of wealth and not wealth itself. An industrialist who attributes his troubles to the measure and not the thing that is measured is guilty of the same mistake as the incompetent mechanic who complains of his tools. The third notable work of the bank is the part it has played and is still playing in assisting the reorganization and rationalization of the depressed basic industries of the country.