Western Star WALLACE COUNTY GAZETTE. TUESDAY, DECEMBER 3, 1935. TRADE BARRIERS.

Western Star, 3 December 1935, Page 2

Western Star WALLACE COUNTY GAZETTE. TUESDAY, DECEMBER 3, 1935. TRADE BARRIERS.

One thing that will help New Zealand’s Labour Government is the tact, that the worst of th e depression has passed. Recovery must be slow m the face of" the present international complications but conditions at the moment suggest that the financial and economic* current has set in the right direction / In his address at the annual meeting of the Bank of New South Wales, held atj Sydney on Friday, Sir Thomas Buckland made some enoouraging references to New Zealand, where, he said, a general improvement in tne primary a.na secondary industries was indicated which had had a stimulating effect on wholesale and retail trade movements. Dis cussing world economic and financial problems which, of course, govern conditions in thi s small country, Sir Thomas Buckland said it was difficult to see how a further substantial measure of world recovery on a broader and better basis could come without a return of international trade to something like its predepression level. The crux of the matter is that the many national tariff and other barrier s are against an increase m trade, and without some easing of the present restrictions there can be no large scale improvement. Sir Thomas Buckland considers that the best, hope of reversing the present trend lies in some agreement upon the related question of monetary stability. r .Lhia is a point upon which many writers and public speakers are in lino, and it will be remembered that an economic conference was held in London to endeavour to achieve that end. Nothing concrete was gained, it is true, but it will probably be recognised as the forerunner to others of achieving greate r success. Sir Samuel Honre’s reputation as a statesman has been greatly enhanced by the developments in the last year or two. His striking success in piloting the India Bill through s tormy seas and Ins attitude in connection with the Abyssinian developments have made a deep impression, on Britain and on the f ontinent He has the international mind, devoid' of sentimentality. A women’s conference on current problems was held in New York recently, and Sir Samuel Hoare (addressed it from London by means of a broadcast. He expressed the opinion that the tendency was to pay too much attention to the political situation of the moment, and that too little thought was given to th© underlying economic troubles of which political problems were in many cases the immediate symptom. Sir Samuel Hoare quoted from a League of Nations handbook the following sentence, which put'-' the position in a nutshell : —"'l he malady from which the world d now suffering is no longer entirely the crisis, biiu rather th-' inability of the countries tc co-ordiv at 5 tbeir several efforts to emerge f om tile crisis.” The British Minister expressed his entire concurrence with this statement, and gave it as his f pi 'ion that the lowering of the barriers to international trade, slow and di'fi nlt as the tack must inevitably be was one of the most fundamental of the problems at the present time ” Sir Samuel l.loaic added that

the work must be persistently and courageously pursued not only by Ministers of Commerce who desired to promote the economic welfare of the world, but also by all tbose who wished to promote international friendship and to serve the great cause of the peace. A feature of British policy in the last two years ha s been its success in establishing trade agreements with foreign) countries, and another significant iurli. cation of the trend to more liberal ways is the tariff agreement reached between the United States and Canada. 11.0 British ideal, as expounded by Sir Samuel Hoare, i e the abolition of war and the mentality of war, whether it be on the field of battle or on the field of commerce, industry, and labour. f< We want,” he said, ‘‘a new world and a new order in human relations in which peace and justice, trade end intercourse, shall' he secure, and I am sure that these are also your wishes and ideals.”