The Timaru Herald WEDNESDAY. AUGUST 21, 1929. FACING BIGGER ODDS.

Timaru Herald, Volume CXXV, Issue 18349, 21 August 1929, Page 8

The Timaru Herald WEDNESDAY. AUGUST 21, 1929. FACING BIGGER ODDS.

Synctiroiiisinn with the “sweeping victory'’ for free trade in which Labour Party and the Liberals polled their full strength in the. House of Commons against, the Conservative amendment to the Address in Reply refrrettinp that the King's Speech did not make provision for the continuance of Safeguarding and Imperial preference, the depletion of the gold reserves of the Bank of England bodes ill for sustained recovery of British industry. In effect, the vital industries are invited to save themselves by reorganising and equipping themselves on the far bigger lines now adopted by American and Continental industries. Apd while German and American trade development and commercial activity draw go! 1 in increasing millions from London (beginning with ten millions in the first half of the year), British industries under the Socialist regime are not only faced with a rising bank rate that would impose a severe strain on them, but the fiscal barriers are to be thrown down in Britain, and struggling industries left to fend for themselves, while the United States and the great manufacturing countries of Europe raise higher tariff barriers which will give them h sufficient measure of protection at home to enable them to outclass their rivals in other markets of the world. Is it any wonder that Hr Thomas, Minister Responsible for Employment, before the Labour Ministry had been in office many days, protested his inability to discover a short cut to the conquest of unemployment. “There is no short cut,” Mr Thomas said at the very beginning of his first speech in the House of Commons since regaining Cabinet rank. “There is no short cut, - ’ lie said in the middle, and at the end he reiterated his confession. And while the Labour Government at Westminster throws down the tariff barriers and invites the highlyprotected exporting countries of the world to come and trade in Britain, Wall Street is wondering whether the London Bank Rate will be advanced to per cent, (it is now 5-j per cent.), in an attempt to check the flow of gold across the Atlantic. Apparently the exchange is against Britain; and obviously this unhealthy economic condition will be aggravated if the Labour Party’s free trade policy lias the effect of increasing America's export trade with Britain. And this trend will not assist the Bank of England to recover its gold reserves; indeed, unless this depletion of reserves comes to a halt, leading financiers foresee a higher bank rate, though in the financial and industrial centres of the world it is realised that such a movement would grievously injure Britain’s industrial interests. While it is hoped that the need for an immediate increase in the Bank Rate may be staved off, the outlook for the autumn remains threatening, as it is then that the financing of the wheat, cotton, and similar imports begins to he felt. In three weeks —from June 13 to July B—the Bank of England lost nearly ten millions in gold, an equivalent of the gold shipments during the whole of the first six months of the current year. The greater part of recent shipments has gone to Germany, and the heavy depletion has brought the Banks’ stock of gold dangerously near the £150,000,000 limit, which was formerly regarded as a minimum. The Bank Rate, it should be explained, is the minimum rate at which the Bank of England will discount the very best bills, and a higher rate makes for dear money which adds to the overhead charges of industry, as credits have to be obtained at a higher cost. Some days ago, the Bank of England issued a denial of the rumour that a large credit had been arranged in New York by the Imperial Treasury, with the Federal Reserve Bank of the United States. It is nevertheless significant that Mr Montagu Norman, Governor of the Bank of England, paid a visit to the United States in July. Similar visits in the past were fruitful when the dollar exchange threatened the export of gold from London. Altogether, however, the outlook is not particularly promising, since the changing conditions both from a fiscal and a financial point of view, which now confront British industrial interests will not help very much to smooth the way to a complete rehabilitation of British industries with the inevitable employment of hundreds of thousands of more man in key and subsidising industries.

THE DRAMA LEAGUE. Thanks to the enthusiastic interest manifested by Dr. Unwin and those associated with him, backed by a spontaneous and sustained response in town and country, ttie South Canterbury Drama League entered upon its third annual contest last evening, with every prospect of a most successful season. For many centuries, that form of literary art which provides for the direct representation of human actions and characters, through individual impersona-

tion. has made an irresistible appeal. This is not inexplicable, since drama deals with things essentially human, and there is an inherent longing in the make up of most people to play a part. The classic departments of drama are tragedy and comedy; Iragedy has a Had ending, comedy ends happily. But there are other differences. Tragedy deals sort ously with serious themes, with (he sufferings of humanity, and with fatalities; comedy exploits the follies and absurdities of the ridiculous nud the base. Tragedy entertains through the excitement of pity and sympathy; comedy through the excitement to mirth. Modern plays contain much more diversity of plots than the ancient, and many of them are neither tragedy nor comedy. From childhood up, mimicry is part of the human make-up. It is certainly funda mental to the acted drama, and doubtless common in varying degrees of development, to all people. The dramatic dialogue of the Book of Job and the dramatic lyrics in the Canticles may be the primitive form of dramatic tendency, but it is generally agreed that the regular dramatic history begins in Greece. But interest has been maintained down the centuries as there lives an inherent love of drama—the presentation of human action through impersonation. Thanks to the enthusiasm of the citizens behind the movement in its infancy, the South Canterbury Drama League now has a firm hold on the appreciation of an increasingly * and enthusiastic section of the people of town and country. uiu'U annual competition which opened last evening has drawn record entries, and it is confidently hoped that the public patronage accorded the Drama League will also eclipse the practical interest manifested previously in the work of the League. Much of the success of the work of the League, however, depends on the judging. We do not mean that the awards of the adjudicator will determine the future of the League. As a matter of fact we sympathise with the judge in the task imposed upon him to find a judicial “yardstick” to determine the order of merit in which he is supposed to place groups of players of such widely-varying talents. Indeed, we offer a suggestion to the Drama League that in future competitions there should be no piaeings. When we say that the success or otherwise will be determined by the work of the adjudicator, we mean that the educative value of the competitions will be largely lost unless the considered opinion of the judge is given, in the form of well-informed and constructive criticism on the work, firstly of the presentation of the play itself, and secondly of individual players. In previous years the Drama League's competitions have not been followed by constructive critiques, and in that respect the League has not played its full part. It is confidently anticipated that the competitions this year will mark another successful effort by the League to interest the people of this district in the presentation of drama. That there are rich mines of latent talent in the community almost unexplored, is demonstrated by tho work of the players who have been caught up in the enthusiasm the Drama League has created. But of course, the League needs public support if it is to succeed in the most praiseworthy effort it is making to revive and maintain interest in dramatic art.