ECONOMIC CRISIS

Southland Times, Issue 21832, 8 October 1932, Page 5

ECONOMIC CRISIS

SOLUTION IMPERATIVE MORE IMPORTANT THAN DISARMAMENT MR BRUCE’S OPINION (United Press Assn.—Telegraph Copyright.) (Rec. 7 p.m.) Geneva, October 7. Mr S. M. Bruce, addressing the Technical Committee of the League of Nations, said that a solution of economic problems was more important than a solution of disarmament. Many speakers blamed tariffs and exchange and currency restrictions as the cause of the economic crisis. 4 A deeper cause was the low level of wholesale prices and the burdens of debtor countries. If these problems were solved many recent restrictions would automatically disappear. Australia’s position emphasized this. She had none of the handicaps to which Europe’s troubles were somewhat loosely attributed. She had no burden of arms; no excessive population; no shortage of resources; yet Australia first restricted imports, raised tariffs, regulated the exchange and took every step to dam the flood of imports, and these were not done in pursuit of a fiscal policy or a spirit of nationalism, but to meet external obligations.