JEER, CHEER, AND A NEW YEAR

Evening Post, Volume CXIII, Issue 2, 4 January 1932, Page 6

JEER, CHEER, AND A NEW YEAR

New York cables the impression that Americans were more inclined lo "jeer out" 1931 than to welcome 1932 with hope. The explanation may le that not until 1931 did the United States descend substantially into the pit of depression. Had the Americans as a people known such v 1930 as was experienced in some oilier parts of the world, the jeering lime might have come not now but a year ago. Passing from jeer to

cheer, one notes that even on the British Slock Exchange, according to "The Economist," there was noL such a great fall of prices in 1931—prices "sagged rather than slumped"—and probably the Australian Stock Exchange could report similarly, for a great deal of the dead timber was cut away before 1931. Certainly the fall in London of Australian stocks ante-dated 1931, and therefore a comparison in the degree of fall in one year, as between Commonwealth and New Zealand stock values on the London market, is not a true measure of what has happened since the boom subsided. New Zealand's first business is to render unto London its due, in which case London will not overlook the fact. To do that, New Zealand should strive to maintain the political solidarity that Australia seems to have partly thrown away.