The Christchurch Star PUBLISHED BY New Zealand Newspapers Ltd. MONDAY, AUGUST 22, 1932. THE MIRACLE OF OTTAWA.

Star (Christchurch), Volume XLIV, Issue 538, 22 August 1932, Page 6

The Christchurch Star PUBLISHED BY New Zealand Newspapers Ltd. MONDAY, AUGUST 22, 1932. THE MIRACLE OF OTTAWA.

'T'HE MOST IMPORTANT thing -®- that has been said about the results of the Ottawa Conference will be found in an interview with Lord Vestey, first published in j Buenos Aires, in which, after a polite admission that the Argentine meat quota is unfairly based on an unfavourable trading year, be states with brutal frankness the challenging fact that Britain is determined to establish a better balance in her trading relations, beginning first of all with great nations like Canada, which have been buying far too many foreign goods, and extending the principle to foreign countries like the Argentine, which cannot expect to sell to Britain and not buy from her. This is the most arresting fact of the Conference, which, as “The Times” says, has stopped the drift towards the economic isolation of the Empire’s communities. It is much too early to comment on the effect of agreements regarding meat or butter on the slender information available, nor is it possible to make a pronouncement from an overseas point of view on agreements under which Australia and New Zealand tariffs are to give British producers “ a full opportunity for reasonable competition on the basis of relative costs and economical and efficient All we can say at the moment is that if there is a catch in any of these agreements it has not been deliberately inserted, and the miracle is that within a month such unanimous agreements should have been arrived at on matters of vital interest to countries economically isolated. It is not disturbing that the New Zealand delegates should regard the butter settlement as far from satisfactory, for in this, as in every settlement, the opportunity for review is wide enough under a five-year term, and in any case it is diilicult to escape the conclusion that if there is any grievance regarding these settlements it is not the grievance of the primary producer. Ottawa is a beginning, and the possibilities are limitless. THE RANFI iRLY SHIELD. T>HISICAE FITNESS and honest team work carried the Canterbury Rugby team to unexpected heights in defence of the Ranfurly Shield against a strong Auckland challenge. There was not a “ passenger ” in the winning team, thanks to a wise selection, but tactically the winners were admirable, and it is becoming more clearly demonstrated every day that strategy and tactics have not been sufficiently developed in the last decade. It is desirable that the qualities of generalship displayed by Mr W allace in his managership of the Australian tour should be availed of for the coming tour of England, especially during the slight period of uncertainty as to the best results obtainable from a strange scrum formation. ATTACKING THE ELEPHANT. Tj'RANKLYN ROOSEVELT, speakiog to an America that absorbs its political ideas by cartoons and pictures, has begun his campaign on the right note for popular appeal. Has the Republican elephant, spotted with mire through its blind wanderings during the last four sears, suddenly bv a miracle overnight become a sacred white elephant of spotless purity, or has it been scrubbed and whitewashed by cunning showmen in the hope that it can deceive a credulous electorate for four years more ? This sort of rhetorical brilliance may raise a whole menagerie ofTammany Hall tigers in the minds of Republican satirists, but Mr Hoover will meet it soberly, for no one conceives him either as the god of the unthinking crowd that Coolidge was, or the hero of popular fancy that Wilson was. While his work remains unfinished he goes to the polls criticised for his defects in the easy years, and praised for his virtues in hard times. Opposite to him stands Franklvii Roosevelt, but with a sort of perverse logic the critics declare dial the Wet candidate for the Presidency is almost too charming lo succeed, “ he is a St Gcortfc with too few dragons.”