THE Wairarapa Age MORNING DAILY. WEDNESDAY, AUGUST 30, 1933. AN INTERESTING BREAK.

Wairarapa Age, 30 August 1933, Page 4

THE Wairarapa Age MORNING DAILY. WEDNESDAY, AUGUST 30, 1933. AN INTERESTING BREAK.

■ Not enough has yet been made J known about the circumstances of i Professor Moley’s resignation from the [ Roosevelt Administration to show ex- ■ actly what it portends. There are ( some obvious grounds for supposing, • however, that this first break in the i official family of the President of the ' United States may open the way to i practical developments of international [ co-operation. Professor Moley appears 1 to have had as much to do as any man [ with the flat refusal of the United 1 States Government to permit currency stabilisation to be discussed at the ' World Conference. The currency position now reached, particularly as regards the relationship of the pound and dollar, is disturbingly uncertain and threatens to become critical. There has been uneasy talk in the United States and more recently in Britain, about the possibility of enforced inflation. It becomes definitely a question whether an agreement to bring the pound and dollar into an ascertained relationship might not be of considerable benefit to both Britain and the United States. Approach to an agreement of this kind admittedly would entail an attempt to solve some rather difficult problems. The relationship of the pound and dollar will not be determined easily. Hitherto thb disposition in the United States has been to favour parity of exchange with Britain, while it has been claimed in Britain that the pound had found something like its natural level for the time being when it was exchanging for the dollar at a depreciation of some thirty per cent. ; The recent depreciation of the dollar has wiped out most of this difference in exchange values, but it appears also to have had its part in creating a dangerously unstable monetary situation whi<& is regarded on both sides of the Atlantic with a good deal of apprehension. The United States may thus already have found good reason to change the attitude it took up at the World Conference on the subject

of currency stabilisation. With these possibilities and others in mind, a full disclosure of the circumstances in which Professor Moley has resigned from the Roosevelt Administration, or of the changes of policy thus brought into prospect, will be awaited with a great deal of interest. As information stands, the resignation definitely brightens the hope that the American government may now be more inclined than it was very recently to engage in early and effect- j ive economic co-operation with Britain j and with other countries. Professor Moley was a leading and influential ex- 1 ponent of the view that the raising of ‘ prices in the United States was more important than the stabilisation of the ‘ dollar and that currency stabilisation j might hamper the Government’s recovery projects. His resignation suggests r a turn in the United States towards i measures of international co-operation f which can hardly fail to include currency stabilisation. HOPEFUL EXPECTATIONS. ‘ € Many people will read with gratifl- } cation the opinion expressed by the } chairman of the Associated Banks, Mr. i

J. T. Grose, that New Zealand has seen the worst of the depression. As a class, bankers are not given to carelessly optimistic talk and Mr. Grose usually conforms to tradition in this respect. It may be assumed! that he is expressing, a considered opinion and it will carry the more weight since he is relying in part on advice received from. London. While he thinks that bottom has been touched, Mr. Grose commits himself to no rash predictions regarding the probable rate of recovery.. It must be obvious to the most casual observer that there is a long uphill pull to be negotiated before the Dominion. can again enjoy anything like easy prosperity. At the moment we are faced by unemployment on an unprecedented scale and our basic industries are struggling to overcome an exceedingly adverse balance of costs and returns. On the other hand, an upward movement of prices, such, as appears to be definitely setting in where wool is concerned, will of course appreciably modify the total economic problems of the Dominion and facilitate general recovery and the progressive reduction of unemployment which is so much to be desired. Real progress in recovery may be expected to date from the period at which, it becomes possible to dispense in great part with the special legislation now in force relating to mortgages. Whatever the past and present need for a suspension of mortgage contracts, the legislation ae it stands imposes in many cases a great deal of hardship and raises definite obstacles to the extension of new enterprise. Apart from the equitable consideration that is due to mortgagees, there is no doubt that it is in the interests of the working farmer that the protective legislation should be dispensed -with as soon as conditions make it possible to do so.