Stratford Evening Post FRIDAY, DECEMBER 5, 1930. THE SILVER LINING.

Stratford Evening Post, Issue 7, 5 December 1930, Page 4

Stratford Evening Post FRIDAY, DECEMBER 5, 1930. THE SILVER LINING.

IT is said that every cloud, lias a silver lining; the clouds which today shut out the sunshine from our country may be no exception to this rule. Certainly they are very black, but it is from their very ominous appearance that we may derive a lot of good. Prior to the Sard times we are experiencing now, this country has suffered two very severe depressions during the last decade. There was what we may now call the panic of 1921 and the slump o£ 1926. The fanning industry Took the shock in both these cases, and although lhe rest of the community 1 were also more or less affected, they suffered but little compared with the" man on the land. in a country such as this, which derives almost its sole income from farming products, such must always be the case; the farmer must : always be the first to notice the ups and downs. When the depression is of some duration, (he rest of the community will also suffer. We were very fortunate in 19211922 in that, although the bottom had fallen out of the wool, beef and mutton < markets, the market for butter and • cheese held very firm. The grazier; suffered but his losses were to some | J extent counter-balanced by the dairy j 'farmer's gain. Such a circumstance! v certainly docs not, form (lie silver ! i lining of tin- black clouds of We have often heard the remark by the man in the street: "Oh, yes, when the farmer is hit we're all hit." How many have fully realised that > such is actually the case. The silver r lining to which we have referred lies in the fact that the truth of tliese f words" is now being very forcibly ' driven home to all sections of t he community. Every man and woman

I in the country will y surely realise that no truer word could be said by any inhabitant of New Zealand. We will all now understand that we have bee n living at a £ alse level. Costs must be cut down by half. Wages and the prices of commodities must be reduced. The restrictions of the Arbitration Court must be modified or broken down. Rural lands must be freed from the crushing burden oT local taxation. If New Zealand is to keep her feet the farmer must be allowed to buy in the cheapest market. When these and other matters have been dealt, with, then will commence the return ilow of population from tl>e cities to the land. These truths are now coming home to all of us; and it is in that fuller realisation of our utter dependence upon the prosperity of the man on the land that New Zealand's salvation lies. U.S.A. DEFICIT. ' PRESIDENT HOOVER'S statement ! that the United States will have to i face a deficit of £36.400,000, ought 1 to be proof enough t>at the depression is world-wide. The proposals advanced for covering the American ' deficit are not likely to be more ] than palliative. With a huge surplus of gold, it is quite easy for ! Government bonds to be issued, but I while that may ease the situation for j the moment., it. will ultimately make : matters worse by freezing still more 1 gold. To raise the tariff again would further restrict trade. America, like other countries, refuses to recognise the fundamentals of the depression, which are the shortage and mal-distribution of gold, the destruction of silver as money, the drain of wa r debts, and the restrictions of tariff walls. Eventually the facts must be faced. The only\ question in whether a world smash j may not come first.