The Gisborne Herald. WITH WHICH IS INCORPORATED "THE TIMES.” SATURDAY, DECEMBER 30, 1939. 1939 IN RETROSPECT

Gisborne Herald, Volume LXVI, Issue 20133, 30 December 1939, Page 4

The Gisborne Herald. WITH WHICH IS INCORPORATED "THE TIMES.” SATURDAY, DECEMBER 30, 1939. 1939 IN RETROSPECT

The year 1939 will unquestionably stand in the future as one of the most important dates in history. It marks the commencement of the second great war of the century, a war which threatens before it is ended to involve perhaps the greater part of the world

and almost certainly most of Europe. In these circumstances, it is inevitable that any attempt to make a survey of the past year should be clouded by the war issues which over-ride everything else and give a confused perspective to world conditions. Because of the war there will be a tendency to regard 1939 as a disastrous year;

yet, by the same token, 1939 should emerge in the future as a date of which the civilised world has reason to be proud. It has marked a turning point in international relations. It saw the end of a period in which freedom-loving nations were prepared to see the freedom of other peoples subjugated by the rule of force and when they took a stand for liberty and justice in dealings between one State and another. To-day the democracies are fighting for those principles upon which the world has progressed throughout the ages and without which there can be no ordered progress and no life worth living. If as a result of the present struggle those principles are re-established, then it will be possible to regard 1939 as a date upon which a new era was opened. Viewed from a less abstract point of view, the past year has not been one from which the world can derive \ much satisfaction. Twelve months ago,, having just escaped a threat of war, the nations were congratulating themselves upon having preserved the peace. Just how precarious that peace was few, perhaps, realised, but the knowledge that war had been averted resulted in the present year opening on a note of confidence, a confidence which events have since shown to have been sadly misplaced. So far as Britain, in particular, is concerned, it has now been made clear that no stone was left unturned in an honest and determined endeavour to take full advantage of the breathing space granted in 1938—in an attempt to consolidate a temporary truce into a permanent peace. It has been made still more clear, however, that in the hearts of other nations there lay the lust for power, aggression, and aggrandisement. The forces of evil were too strong for those of peace and so it is that 1939 has seen the issue joined; when it will be finally settled remains a matter for conjecture, but

that it will be settled, and settled in favour of the forces of peace and right, is certain, and it is to the attainment of this task that the efforts for the coming year must be dedicated.

So far as New Zealand is concerned, the year opened with the country in the throes of an economic and financial crisis of the first magnitude, and the difficulties and problems Increased with the passage oj’ time. Inevitably, the outbreak of war and the heavy new responsibilities undertaken by the Dominion in common with the rest of the Empire have thrust the purely domestic issues into the background, but it is important and necessary that they should not be overlooked. The war has not solved any problems for New Zealand, but rather has aggravated them; at the most it has merely postponed the day of. reckoning. Actually the year closes with the country involved in two crises, the first brought about by the international situation and the second entirely of a domestic character. In the meantime, all effort is rightly concentrated on the tasks arising out of the war, but when that issue is settled New Zealand will still have to face the problem of setting its own house in order, and that problem will be increased immeasurably tin ough the war. Viewed from a purely local standpoint, therefore, 1939 cannot be regarded in any way as a satisfactory year and it is vitally necessary, if order and stability are to be restored, that the new year should open with a firm determination on the part of the people as a whole to remedy the defects which are all too apparent in the economic structure. Prior to the war crisis, the past year in New Zealand was largely characterised by a policy of drift. Import control, with which the .year opened, became intensified month after month until trade in almost every direction was restricted and stifled. The financial position, which control was calculated to rectify, deteriorated still further, and even before the war started it had been found necessary to impose further taxation on the most heavily taxed people in the world. When the war did have to be faced it was found that the financial resources of the country had been strained almost to the limit and subsequent war measures, necessary though they undoubtedly were, brought increased hardship and difficulty. The difficulties are emphasised by a comparison with the situation in 1935. Then, New Zealand had qverseas funds exceeding £40,000,000, but this year they were only one-third of that amount, while idle funds in the trading banks had been reduced to little more than half the level of £20,000,000, which was the figure four years ago. At the same time other .reserves have been exhausted and taxable resources have been exploited to the limit. The war, therefore, will place a serious burden on the whole economy of the Dominion and the new year will require the maximum effort on all sections of the community.