ECONOMIC CONFERENCE

Wanganui Chronicle, Volume LXXXIII, Issue 19829, 2 May 1927, Page 7

ECONOMIC CONFERENCE

LEAGUE’S GREATEST WORK PROPER DIRECTION OF PRODUCTIVE POWER Received May 1, 8 p.m, (A and N.Z.) LONDON, April 30. M. Litvinoff has telegraphed Sir Eric Drummond, Secretary to the League of Nations, that the Soviet will be represented at the Economic Conference at Geneva, the Russian delegation consisting of 18 persons. The Observer editorially describes the conference as “A grand inquest ranking in importance before any other work which the League has attempted. Some see the League as a just and militant organisation, but the truer version is that it is humbler, safer and more serviceable. Economics are not the whole of life, and man is more then a bread winner, but economic ignorance is chief amongst the barriers to a rationally constituted world. “Europe is suffering from disorganisation and it is the mis-handling and misdirection of Europe’s productive power that principally obstruct prosperity, depress the standard of living, and threaten industrial and international peace.”

Scope of the Conference A vast amount of preparatory has been done. Preliminary experts have explored the ground in such a way as to direct the conference mainly to two classes of policy questions: Firstly commercial and tariff and secondly, international industrial agreements. It is held that these go to the root of tho world’s economic difficulties. It is expected that the subjects of migration will also be prominent. It must be borne in mind that delegates, though appointed by Governments and chosen for their personal qualifications in various subjects, are not in any way the spokesmen of official policy. The British delegates are Earl Balfour, Sir Arthur Norman Hill, Sir Maximus Pratt, Messrs W. T. Layton and Arthur Pugh. ALTERED CONDITIONS FRENCH ECONOMIST’S VIEWS PROTECTION AND TRADE Received May 1, 7 p.m. (Sun Cable) PARIS, April 30. Mr Roger Auboin, a leading publicist, points out in the newspaper Le Europe Nouvelle, that the trend of commercial development of the present nations bordering on the eastern Atlantic to the Pacific is due to these countries use of capital and man power to treat and export their own raw material. Thus the cotton industry has greatly progressed in India, China, Brazil and Mexico and the metallurgical industry in Asia, Australia and New Zealand. The depression of European currencies, employment of hydro-electric power and liquid combustibles, and economic conditions, and Governments seeking remedies have resorted to excessive protection which has only aggravated the evil.