A YEAR OF RECOVERY

Taranaki Daily News, 8 February 1934, Page 8

A YEAR OF RECOVERY

LORD WAKEFIELD’S FORECAST. Speaking at a meeting ’in connection with the election of the Common Council for the City of London, Lord Wakefield predicted brighter times in the coming year. The nation, he said, had been through a grave crisis, and the emergency had been met in the English way. The compromise that gave Britain a National Government in 1931 was in effect one of the most brilliant and courageous episodes in her political history. “Under its unifying influence,” Lord Wakefield proceeded, “a planned recovery has been steadily acquiring. momentum,. undisturbed by; impatient or. partisan criticism, until now we begin to see concrete results. We can say that confidence has been restored, but I believe that, fundamentally, - confidence has never been lost. Our greatest asset as a nation is our instinctive knowledge that, whatever the peril, however near or novel, we shall surmount it.

“The. signs and portents of recovery are ' many. Most important and most heartening is the continued increase in the number of people in employment.

A member of the Government has said that by the end of the year there should be some 800,000 more men and women at work, This is, after all, the true index to national prosperity, “The outlook for 1934 is’ bright, and there is an opportunity for further stimulus to be given if a bold financial policy is followed by the National Government. There is the probability of a surplus in the national Budget. I express the hope that the Government will reduce the burden of direct taxation. I believe this step would rapidly justify itself. “The buoyancy of our home market would be further improved by the circulation of more money, and our’ great exporting trades would be strengthened in their renewed efforts to regain lost ground in the markets of the Empire and the world. The upward tendencies that are shown by the monthly trade returns should .make 1934 a great year of recovery. With the successes already achieved we shall press forward with greater determination toward happiness and prosperity for us. all.”