CHANGING CONDITIONS.

Star (Christchurch), Volume LXVI, Issue 20233, 17 February 1934, Page 1

CHANGING CONDITIONS.

Mr Baldwin on World Dictatorships. British Official Wireleaa. RUGBY, February 15. Mr Stanley Baldwin, in a speech at Preston, emphasised the importance attached by the English people to democratic liberties. In the last few years, he said, the conditions of government in many countries had entirely changed and some of the greatest countries of the world to-day were ruled either in name or in Jact by a dictator. ‘‘Experiments that may be perfectly safe in some countries, might not be safe in Britain,” he continued. ”We are a nation that has become over-in-dustrialised. If an experiment were made in this country ' that affected vitally finance and industry the risks of disaster would be appalling. We cannot move at the same pace as they do in some other countries. In economic experiments we must make certain of the ground upon which we are going to put our feet before we move.” Reviving Confidence. Referring to trade matters, Mr Baldwin said there had been a revival of confidence such as had not been shown for some years, and in the third quarter of last year industrial production in Britain was ten per cent greater than in the preceding year. There had been a corresponding improvement in retail trade. People were spending more money. As to interimperial trade, Mr Baldwin said: “Ottawa was only the first step and we are yet only at the beginning of an appreciation of what may come.” Japanese Problem. The Japanese problem was One of extraordinary difficulty. He was quite certain they were approaching it on right lines in trying to get some agreement between the industries of Britain and those of Japan as to the markets in which their goods could be sold and the quantities that might be sold in those markets. Any questions of the prohibition in any areas of the world against any great Power was fraught with the gravest consequences. The losses that might be incurred bv the parties to a tariff war of that kind were incalculable and, where both sides realised that, a sensible and pacific understanding was probable.