ECONONIST SEES PROSPERITY AHEAD

Auckland Star, Volume LXXIII, Issue 120, 23 May 1942, Page 8

ECONONIST SEES PROSPERITY AHEAD

MR. KEYNES' ADVICE

Wartime Discipline Will Be Required

United rriNs lon.—Copyright. Slit 1 ('onv -j j<>llll olll. 11 a in - LONDON, May 22. The noted economist, Mr ,| \\ Keynes in speech at Manchester nlversify, referred 1., the post-war I'ien. "f believe ii will take us , 'V Pr - • V 51: , ,1 S t<> recover from th<> tlvo S"■ ' vvai •' ' I,< •'■iii'l. "During hat period we must willinglv submit to discipline— progressive! v less Ih '", l in .wartime. but more *• \ i-i ' n ' n timo. Alter that, period we can reason- •' »I.y expect to obtain ;i measure of Pi ospent y and health, not. onlv not. less, hiit. higher even than before. VVe can only lay sound foundations or hat bv accepting discipline in wr m i n ' c \ ycilrs ' (ll "' n K which we will have to use our brains as never belore. "The orderly transition from war p peace without disorderly demohisat'on as after last war. avoidable waste of labour or materials or excessive transitional unemployment is mr!ii!' ,0 , bo r:isy " U requires maintenance In principle of manv war controls and all rationing until the actual effects of an abundance of supplies prove that the controls and rationing are unnecessary "We win have to be full of plans, unlimited in ambitions, of projects but. rigidly disciplined in the order and pace of their execution. It will bo a time such as it. has not been our good fortune to enjov for manv years for the use of political and economic constructive imagination " Mr. Keynes added that Britain's relations with the rest of the world were the clue to all else. Britain, America and Russia would have the task of laying the foundations for world relations in which every country could, without hindrance, exchange Its surplus produce for the goods It, needs for other countries. It would not be a matter of niggardliness of nature, but of organisation of relations, honest purpose and hard, untrammelled thinking. Referring to one aspect particularly concerning Manchester, Mr Keynes said: "The future of Britain essentially depends on a great expansion of export trade. With that assured, the rest will be comparatively easy. Without it our hopes for the future are sunk. It simply must happen. There can be no ifs about it. We must increase the volume of our exports by at least 50 per cent compared with 1938." That meant returning to what was doing in 1929. "

The Financial News says: "Mr. Koynes' remarks should go far in overcoming the wave of defeatism that seems to have seized the export trad© in general and .Lancashire in particular. It is high time someone with Mr. Keynes authority delivered himself in this sense. By the end of the war the world will be literally starved of manufactures —much more than at the end of the last war. Immediately after the termination of hostilities most countries will be anxious to replenish depleted stocks of manufactures. The problem will not be to find overseas customers, but to produce the goods they need."