The Southland Times. PUBLISHED EVERY MORNING. “Luceo Non Uro.” TUESDAY, AUGUST 13, 1935. AFTER FOUR YEARS

Southland Times, Issue 25361, 13 August 1935, Page 6

The Southland Times. PUBLISHED EVERY MORNING. “Luceo Non Uro.” TUESDAY, AUGUST 13, 1935. AFTER FOUR YEARS

Commenting on Sir Alexander Herdman’s criticism of the Government, the Auckland Star remarked that the one thing he had forgotten was the depression, the fact that during the four years the Government had been in office it had had to grapple with the extraordinary difficulties brought about by the world economic collapse. No individual government in any country could be charged with having caused the depression, but to-day more people are remembering that the- War played a big part, the major part in setting up conditions which subjected the world to the economic blizzard. Individual people may regard as unnecessary the reminder that the last four years have been marked by the depression and that the Coalition Government, formed to grapple with the problems caused by the economic troubles, has been engaged in handling political tasks greater than those attempted by any other government in this country. This should not be regarded as an apology. Those who have participated in the work of carrying this country through the years of shadow need not apologize. They have been criticized severely; but when the achievements are set against the problems the Coalition Government can justly claim that it has a creditable record of which it can be justly proud. To-day the supporters of the two parties which form the National Party can take credit for what has been done in the past four years, take full responsibility for it, and if they put forward a constructive policy they will be assured of public support. Now that the members of the Government are speaking to the people of the Government’s achievements and are answering the critics in detail, there is a better understanding of what has been done. It has been noticed that one of the favourite

cries of the Opposition is that the Government did not lift the country out of the depression; but nowhere in .the world was this achieved, because it was not humanly possible for any government to achieve this in the face of world conditions. What was done in New Zealand, however, was to lighten the pressure on the community in general, and, through the assistance given the primary industries, to safeguard this country from worse suffering. Those countries which possessed governments that did not bend to popular clamour, that avoided sensational experiments have suffered least, and New Zealand fortunately took the unpopular but sound course. Some people today may say that no government could have made things worse; but if they will only look about the world >and see the effects of political experiments, the effects of inflation in answer to popular demand, the effects of lavish expenditure as a means of sweetening electors at the expense of national stability, they will see that things could have been much worse, and that the outlook could have been much less attractive than it is to-day. New Zealand has come through the shadows in a manner that has won praise from keen critics in London, and in other countries, who necessarily compare our position to-day with their own, and that fact should not be overlooked.