The Bay of Plenty Beacon Published Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays. FRIDAY, SEPT. 22nd, 1939. TRADE EQUILIBRIUM

Bay of Plenty Beacon, Volume 1, Issue 65, 22 September 1939, Page 4

The Bay of Plenty Beacon Published Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays. FRIDAY, SEPT. 22nd, 1939. TRADE EQUILIBRIUM

IT is pleasing to note the steady recouperation which has taken place in Whakatane during; the past week. It is obvious that the community generally is fast recovering from the first shock occasioned by the outbreak of war, and is settling down to the normal occupations of life. There is less disturbance in the home, less apprehension in the country and although the mists of uncertainty still cling about the great and tragic events abroad the. average Bay of Plenty resident has become more or less innured to surprises and accepts the war enigma in a philosophic manner. And why not! People must live—business must be maintained. It would be futile to suppose otherwise, and as there has been no reduction in wages, no falling off in produce, no shortage in supplies, the ordinary accepted laws of supply and demand cannot help but function. Normal business relations must continue in spite of the mournful prophesies of incuraible pessimists. Dealing; with the position frankly, and reviewing the public reaction following the outbreak of hostilities, we have to record the natural impulse on the. part of many to 'lay in' a certain amount of food commodities. A minor boom especially in the grocery lines followed'. The result was a slackening off in trade when people came to see the folly of their ways, and families commenced to live for a week or two on the war nest egg, which was intended, as a safeguard' against some imaginary period of leanness. The petrol restrictions also played their part in tying up our commercial life and 1 momentarily paralysing local trade However the period was an unnatural one which had to come to a speedy end. The inevitable swing of the pendulum has definitely set in and businessmen throughout the Bay of Plenty are viewing with the utmost relief the return to something resembling the normal level. The war scare and' its initial reaction over, we may now turn our attention to our own affairs. The best medicine at such a time is the full and useful occupation of our working and leisure hours. The setting up of numerous branches of the Red Cross Society, the consolidation of the St John Ambulance Unit, the promotion of the Territorial Association, and finally the initiating of a local Patriotic Society—all these provide avenues for those who seek fitting employment at the present time. Our town is a progressive one, our district wide and prosperous. It is only by the continuance of the sound' business relations of the past that we can hope to be able to do our bit towards the huge task which lies before the Empire. It must be remembered 1 that* we have an im mediate duty on the home front, as well as a wider one to the nation, and it is only by observing the former that we can hope to make a genuine success of the latter.