RECOVERY MOVEMENT

Evening Star, Issue 21747, 15 June 1934, Page 3

RECOVERY MOVEMENT

CREDIT BELONGS TO BRITAIN TRADITIONAL METHODS SUCCESSFUL THE CONTAGION OF OPTIMISM Right at the close of his address to the shareholders of the Bank of New Zealand, whoso annual meeting was held at Wellington this morning, Sir Harold Beauchamp, chairman of directors, referred to the general outlook in the appended terms;—

We are now in the fourth year of economic depression, and, while lack of confidence and a feeling of uncertainty still largely prevail, signs of a gradual movement towards recovery are, fortunately, not wanting. The credit for this improvement, small though it may be, is attributable to Great Britain, for, as an American business man remarked, “ England has pulled herself out of the mire by the aid of her own bootstraps.” Britain shows all the indications of a steady natural recovery, which she has attained by a close adherence to well-tried traditional methods. She has scrupulously observed every contract. Britain has produced the only real Budget surplus; Britain has put through the greatest conversion loan in history without compulsion aud without penal'douses; Britain has regained her position as the world’s greatest exporter. Taxation and unemployment have been reduced, and trade is steadily expanding. Because the ramifications of her influence are so wide-, spread, other countries, and particularly the component parts of the British Empire, are sharing to some small extent m the improvement, aud this has faused a somewhat more optimistic feeling. The remarkable feature of Britain's recovery is that she has not relied on professors of economy of any school or so-called brain trusts, but has relied upon business methods, business ethics, and business common sense.

Men of experience know that in all human ■ affairs no slump or boom, no rise or fall, neither depression nor prosperity can be continuous and without stay; depression follows prosperity, and depression is followed by prosperity, or neither would exist, and the descriptive terms, therefore, would be meaningless. The regions of finance and trade, like the phenomena of Nature, are equally subject to a rhythmic order. There is a contagion of hopefulness, optimism, and confidence, as well, as of depression, pessimism, aud fear. England has started the contagion of optimism, which we can all hope will soon spread throughout the world.