Portugal Starts Expansion Under Sound Finances

Hawke's Bay Herald-Tribune, Issue 29, 18 February 1937, Page 14

Portugal Starts Expansion Under Sound Finances

LISBON. — Free irom "financial' difficulties, the Government here is at last engaged on. », programme bf over'due economic develbpment and social amelioration." «-_By the end bf 4Ms'year;Portugal will have spent some £4,300,000 upon economic xeconstruciion, the 'first part of a 15-year-schpme involving a' total; expenditure oi £30,000,000.' , , .. j ■ The outstalidin'g 'achieyement ^of the presbnt Administration. has ; been . the steadying influence of the nation 's finances, makihg - this reconsthiction pro-. gr'amine possibley it is-stated in .the report 'on ; the ; economic 1 conditions ' of Portugal ,maJe' to- the Department V of Overseas ,Trade, London, by the; British Commercial Secfetary in' Lisbon. Social Amelioratibn. "The.present position is," tho'report declares, "that the traditional * ' background.of national lif et has beon transformed. ' The cfisappearanc'e bf the factors of financial difficulties, which haridicapped - and - negatived even conscien- : tious attempts at reform,' has freed the Government; from the single preoccupation of . keeping . the ; nation solvent, and has . enabled it.to embark upon a programme ■ of economic development and social- amelioration unhindered by financial problems." ' . ' The main structure "of financial reform was " completed during the five years ended 1933, the report' adds, and the stab'ility and order. then -intro'duced has - served as - a bulwark against the force of depression, and as. a foundation on which to build and strengthen tho couhtry's; economic- position. Succession "of Surpluses. "A -'succession of seven budget surpluses achieyed- in- the tceth of depression is evidence," it .is declared, "of what -capable and honest administration; can do,. and there would . appear to be no reason.'why, given a continuance ofjPplit^cal stability and. good .government, "the country ' should not, in the course of time, achieve'a position compatible with -'its - resour ces - and potentialities. " Eegarding . Portugal 's -reconstructtion plaus, the . rpport poin.ts out 'that no special emphasis is placed'on the extension of industTy, since the technique ot manufacturing for the export market, apart from the colonies, has not been developed here. . Greater reliance, it is said, is.'placed on the future.of its

agricultural and • . forestry proancts in world markets.' ' • • .' ; Pprts and Water Power. • Main • items in the reconstruction, apart from increased arinaments, are improved ports, roads, water-power schemes "and irrigatipu. Eearmament of the army, comprising general reform of methods and equipment and Tebuilding of fortification, takes nearly- a third-of -.the money set aside for economic development this year. Otherwise the objects on which most time and monby are- to be' spent are, respe'ctiVely, construc'tibn of airports, fishing ports, re-equipment of the naval - air a.rm, ' and - irrigation, schools, anbroads. . . A special. commission is studying the production and consumption of ■ electrical power- 'in !Portugal." ' * „ „ . . Oversupply of . Wheat The. chief problem, economicaliy speaking, confronting; -the. Portugese Administration, the British , report declares, is the; matter of -production of wheat. Only seven years ago Portugal was- importing large quantities of wheat. Success of a Government wheat campaign, however/the report states, has given *rise to an'acute . problem xegarding large surpluses of wheat. Portugal 's average . yearly consumption of wheat is, the report adds, 330,000 tons. But lately • the home crop. has risen to asrmuch as- 660,000 tons, owing to a guaranteed price for f armers. Tho cost of the wheat prohibited its competition in world markets. Bestrictions on Acreage. ' After some ■ diseussion, it is said in the- report, the Government . has now forbidden- the sowing of wheat in certain areas and arranged for the export of 300,000 tons. Th© femaining surplus is to 'be' held against possible futuro shortage, since this year's crop is not up to standard. "On the whole," the report declares, summing ;up Portugal 's economic prospects, "there is considerable groiind for optimism, and the country has a good deal- on which to; congratulate itself . "The future of both Government and people.- is brighter -than; it has* been for " decades, and -unless there is a reversion to old'systeims-'aiid-policies it'is not too much to say that- PortugaL has at last ' seen the dawn of a new era which pronlises a future attainable in propor- : tion . to the extent to which the nation ' as a whole is prepared to tolerate only sound and honest administration."