BRIGHTER OUTLOOK

Southland Times, Issue 21650, 11 March 1932, Page 7

BRIGHTER OUTLOOK

REVIVAL OF TRADE

LORD BLEDISLOE’S OBSERVATIONS VALUE OF ORGANIZED EFFORT (Per ■United Press Association.) Wellington, March 10. The Governor-General, Lord Bledisloe, when opening the annual conference of the United Commercial Travellers’ and Warehousemen’s Association stressed the value of the organization in maintaining commercial morality which always had been an outstanding and recognized characteristic of British trade. What awaits the world, the empire and New Zealand in this momentous year 1932, Lord Bledisloe asked, and continued: The question at present is unanswerable, but at least the portents are favourable. The sudden and vigorous industrial awakening of Great Britain (as worthy to-day of the prefix "Great” as ever in her proud history), the rapid shrinkage of the great army of unemployed and the world wide confidence displayed in her inherent financial strength by the recent phenomenal rise of sterling on the world’s currency exchange markets betoken a swiftly returning purchasing (lower on the part of New Zealand’s best customer which is bound to reflect itself in an improver! demand at remunerative prices for some at least of our primary products. Tins demand seems likely to be progressively augmented if at the forthcoming empire economic conference at Ottawa the genuine yearning which Britain has to confer material economic benefits upon this much loved Dominion can find full and practical expression as a result of readiness on the part of New Zealand to afford reciprocal preference to some of her chief factory products which are now' largely imported from countries outside the British Commonwealth of-Nations. Each empire unit, will, I feel sure, in the meantime generate as far as possible an internal atmosphere favourable to mutual confidence and to the achievement of a fair balance of commercial reciprocicy.

Lord Bledisloe added: Let. us all strive in our respective sphere by co-operative effort, by wide vision and with minds fully informed on world problems, to put all danger behind us at. the earliest possible moment so that we may seize every opportunity for promoting national progress and economic rehabilitation which will assuredly in due time present itself, an opportunity of which “the sweet uses of adversity” will have sharpened our wits, strengthened our arm and tightened our moral fibre to avail ourselves with confidence and success.