Wairarapa Times-Age FRIDAY, JUNE 19, 1942. LIBYA AND THE WAR PATTERN.

Wairarapa Times-Age, 19 June 1942, Page 2

Wairarapa Times-Age FRIDAY, JUNE 19, 1942. LIBYA AND THE WAR PATTERN.

THERE is bitterness for the British and Allied forces now fighting in Libya, and for those which have fought there in the past, as well as for the nations behind them, in the state of affairs meantime reached in the Western Desert. It is unfortunately clear that Rommel and his Alrika Corps, v ith its associate land and air forces, have achieved a substantial, though limited measure of success. So much is this the case that military commentators in London are discussing rather pessimistically, the possibility of Tobruk being held again as an isolated outpost. It must be hoped that some of the views now being expressed in London and elsewhere are unduly gloomy.. The essential task deputed to the Eighth Army is that of defending Egypt cine the Suez Canal and this it is doing still by a broad margin. Presumably it must have been concluded that British and Allied resources which would have established a decisive preponderance in Libya and made it possible to conduct an offensive drive to the western confines of that territory could be employed more advantageously elsewhere. It is .to be remembered in this connection that Britain and the United States, aie now committed definitely to the opening of a second front in Europe during the present year. Although Libya and some other areas meantime aie dangci spots which cannot but be regarded with anxiety, a stage almost certainly has been reached or closely approached at which the Allies should be able to exercise a powerful initiative in imparting new trends to the total conflict. They should be able to alter the broad pattern of the war, before long, to their own advantage and to the discomfiture of the enemy. As matters stand, the Axis Powers have little enough to congratulate themselves upon so far as recent developments in the Old World are concerned and perhaps have as little reason to' be satisfied with the recent trend of events in the Pacific. At a price they have gained a good many desert miles in Libya, but meantime, with summer well opened, the Germans have yet to strike any really damaging blow in Russia. - In what has already happened, too, and in possibilities liable to unfold at any time, the situation in Western Europe is little calculated to give comfort or confidence to the Nazis and their satellites.

PENALISING THE FARMER. TN the extent to which they have been defined, the proposals of the Government with regard to the price-increase of 15 per cent to be paid by Britain for New Zealand wool of the 1942-43 clip are both inequitable and unsound. It is estimated that the increased proceeds from wool will total about £2,000,000. The Government proposes that only half this amount should be paid to growers on prompt day and that the other half should be retained in a growers’ pool, under conditions not yet precisely stated. It is proposed also that the addition of In per cent' should not be paid on wool bought and used by New Zealand mills.

If the first of these proposals is intended to be anti-infla-tionary, it is remarkable both in seeking to apply compulsion to one section of the community only and in its fragmentaij approach to a problem of great magnitude. In its total scope, the inflation danger is serious. Side by side with a rapid and progressive shrinkage in the volume of consumers’ goods.and services, the volume of purchasing power in the hands of the community- is expanding apace, on account largely of the extension of war production in the Dominion.

As yet the only counter-measures taken, with the exception of one compulsory loan, are the promotion of the National Savings campaign and other borrowing by the State on a voluntary basis. A good deal might be said in favour of putting an appreciable amount of current purchasing power compulsorily into cold storage, provided this were done on a .comprehensive scale and on an equitable basis, there is nothing to be said, however, for compelling one section of the community, and only that section, to put purchasing power into cold storage. Besides being inequitable, this procedure would do very little indeed to check inflation. The amount of vool proceeds it is proposed to tie up in this way is small in comparison even with that of the bonus addition which have been made during the war period to award wages.

The proposal that wool of next season’s clip should be supplied to local mills at the .price now ruling, and without the addition of 15 per cent to be paid by Britain, would mean simply, if it were adopted, that one comparatively small section of the community would be taxed in penal fashion in order to confer a limited and doubtful benefit on the community in general. The injustice that would be inflicted on sheep farmers is staringly obvious. On the other hand, the price of raw wool constitutes such a small part of the price of woollen manufactures —even of knitting wool —that New Zealand consumers probably would derive no benefit whatever from farmers being compelled to sell wool to local mills at substantially less than its market value.