The Waipukurau Press. PUBLISHED EVERY EVENING. FRIDAY, MAY 20, 1932. CO-OPERATION ESSENTIAL

Waipukurau Press, Volume XXVIII, Issue 124, 20 May 1932, Page 4

The Waipukurau Press. PUBLISHED EVERY EVENING. FRIDAY, MAY 20, 1932. CO-OPERATION ESSENTIAL

As was emphasised by Mr. Sydney W. Pascall, president of the Rotary International, in the course of one of his illuminating addresses in New Zealand. All the people of all nations, co-operating on a carefullyplanned scheme, can end the slump and assist the world’s return to prosperity. He urged the need for a more thorough understanding of economics in the business world. One of the chief troubles of the world, said Mr. Pascall, was that its financial organisation was out of correlation with its commercial and industrial organisation. Last year doubt had been thrown upon the national credit of Britain, with the result that Britain was forced off the gold standard. It was an undoubted fact that the international gold standard had broken down and another international standard must replace it. At the same time it would have to be a standard which would not operate as unfairly as gold had during the past ten years. Finance ought to be the servant not the master of industry. Instead of prices tumbling down as they had done in the present crisis, values should be stabilised through international co-operation. “Is our vision any clearer than it used to be?” he asked. “Do we see what is wrong with our commercial civilisation? Do we study economics as well as our businesses? We, as business men, owe it to ourselves, to the community and to our workpeople to give a sensible lead by which we may avoid these recurring cycles of deslump of to-day.” He continued: “This is no ordinary depression which is notan ordinary depression which the world can emerge from by a normal turn of the wheel. We must see that adequate steps are taken to cure it. We look round and see a world which is poor because it is too rich; which has apparently too much wheat, cotton, wool, sugar, rubber, and oil; and too many factories to produce goods. In some parts of the world they are burning and dumping wheat in the sea and in other ways trying to restrict production, while other parts of the world are starving for want of these things. At the same time nations are piling up tariffs to prevent those countries which have goods from selling them to those who need them. It is a mad world.” He did not however condemn such tariffs as were applied consistently with the objective of reciprocal trade relations.