The Christchurch Star. PUBLISHED BY New Zealand Newspapers Ltd. SATURDAY, DECEMBER 19, 1931. PSYCHOLOGICAL ATTACK.

Star (Christchurch), Volume XLIV, Issue 301, 19 December 1931, Page 8

The Christchurch Star. PUBLISHED BY New Zealand Newspapers Ltd. SATURDAY, DECEMBER 19, 1931. PSYCHOLOGICAL ATTACK.

THE ACCEPTANCE of Mr Hoover’s moratorium in the early stages of Congressional discussion drag's attention .to the fact that America is not free from monetary embarrassments herself. Certain aspects of the American banking position have been arousing misgivings and have been coincident •with the loss of public confidence in the ability of banks to meet their engagements. This has been reflected in a drain of gold on banks very much like the earlier gold losses of Germany and Great Britain, and in the amount of gold earmarked on foreign account. The domestic remedy which Mr Hoover suggests is a banking consortium which would create a system like that of one of the big British banks with its system of branches. American banking failures have been attributed to their isolation under the present system, whereas branch banks in similar difficulties in England automatically receive the assistance of the larger concerns. There are further proposals for mild inflation, but Mr Hoover’s line of attack has been described as chiefly a “ psychological line,” and “ one based upon a reasonable mixture of psychology and sound sense,” qualities which are making him successful in international as well as domestic politics. AN EMPIRE DINNER. IT SHOULD BE the effort of all patriotic housewives to have an Empire dinner this Christmas, for by buying British products British workers are kept in employment. The Empire dinner table ideal is not difficult to achieve. The housewife may have lamb, butter, cheese and honey from New Zealand, sultanas, raisins and wines from Australia, dried fruits and canned fruit from Australia or South Africa, tropical fruits from the Pacific Islands rather than from California. And certainly the after r dinner comforts of the liquid sort, are very adequately supplied from British sources, together with tobacco, cigars and cigarettes. THE RADIO BOARD. T> ADIO LISTENERS will not note any immediate changes in the quality of their programmes following the appointment of the Radio Board, for arrangements have been made to carry on the service with the present staffs until February at least, and by that time the board will have had an opportunity to decide matters of policy relating to the quality and diversity of programmes, the installation of relay stations and the appointment of local advisory councils. The new board has a particularly difficult job before it, but it can safely be guided by the experience of England, which has been copied in Germany and other countries, and it will be welladvised to steer clear of any approach to the American system by giving no countenance to privately maintained stations. “ BENEFITS FORGOT.” TT WAS Miss Amy Johnson who complained with justifiable bitterness that Britain wanted only readymade successes, but even that dictum must be revised in view of the treatment accorded to men like Hinkler and Kingsford Smith. It was only the other day that the “ Times ” discovered that Kingsford Smith was “ one of the world’s most famous airmen,” whereas he is undoubtedly “ tire ” most famous airman of all time, and it is positively tragic that such men, who served and were decorated in the Great War, should receive not the slightest recognition from their country for their greater peace-time activities. The “ Daily Express ” has put into words what a great many people overseas have been thinking about Hinkler, Kingsford Smith and others, who have been pioneering world flight entirely at their own expense, in the face of appalling Hifficiltie* and damages