GREAT BRITAIN’S RECOVERY.

Taranaki Daily News, 5 March 1935, Page 6

GREAT BRITAIN’S RECOVERY.

So long as the “New Deal” suggested by Mr. Lloyd George remained in the realms of oratory it could not arouse much enthusiasm oversea. Apart from the fact that it was first of all a domestic concern of Britain, the absence of any definite plan of campaign—except that a “Brains Trust” was to be set up with power to follow up any scheme for reducing unemployment that it could evolve—left Dominion Governments unable to say whether the ex-Premier could show Great Britain, and perhaps “Greater Britain,” the way out of the unemployment difficulty. It is gratifying to note that Mr. Lloyd George has agreed to submit to the National Government estimates and calculations of his New Deal. He appealed for a more truly national effort to overcome Britain’s difficulties and spur the Government to immediate action. This has drawn from the National Ministry a request for the definite plans Mr. Lloyd George has in mind, for not only in Great Britain but in New Zealand a good deal of highsounding eloquence upon the subject of eliminating unemployment has, upon analysis, resolved itself into nothing but a huge extension of State expenditure financed by promissory notes a future generation will be called upon to honour. If Mr. Lloyd George has a workable plan he may add greater lustre to his statesmanship than that he obtained as Britain’s greatest war-time Premier. New Zealand has more than an academic or even sentimental interest in Great Britain’s recovery. If the 2,000,000 unemployed in Britain, or a large proportion of them, could obtain permanent employment the demand for New Zealand products would undoubtedly increase. For it is in the districts where unemployment is rife at present that a great potential market for New Zealand exports exists. There will be a general desire in the Dominion therefore that Mr. Lloyd George’s plans will contain something that may contribute a real aid to the removal of unemployment from those districts.