THE OUTLOOK AT HOME

Hokitika Guardian, 19 January 1921, Page 4

THE OUTLOOK AT HOME

— -— — LETTER FROM SIR JOSEPH WARD

In the course of a chatty letter to Mr T. E. Y. Seddon M.P. conveying the compliments of the season, Sir Joseph Ward writing from London in November sends good wishes to all New Zealand friends. In referring to general matters, Sir Joseph Ward goes on to S ay: “There is nothing that one can write about of any consequence from here excepting about things in the Old Land, and after all, they interest us greatly from the point of view of seeing the Mother-land prosper, but they do not, away in our distant Dominion, occupy our daily attention so much us those local affairs, political commercial, anil .otherwise, necessarily do.

[ am quite satisfied that the Old Country is in for a real bad difficult tinfe. It is, unfortunately, the general opinion amongst leading men in every walk of life that I happen t () know. 1 do not see how they expect much else after such a long period of disastrous world-wide war. So long, however, as they can keep the poisoned fangs of Bolshevism away from the masses of the people, it seems to me that it is only a matter of time when the strength which lias has been displayed by the people here in such a wonderful way as was the ease during the war, will restore the old country to its former position as a great world-wide successful competitor against any other country or countries. ®

It is a very significant thing that Germany is already actively engaged right in England itself, in competition against local manufacturers, and 1 am assured that at prices so low that they are already getting retail business people to patronise them largely.. It was

officially reported in the press here a few days ago, that the imports from Germany to this country within a limited period amounted in value fo nineteen millions sterling. Tt is a hit hard that this should he so as it unquestionably is preventing many manufacturers to get up on their feet, ns during the war period their whole plant and machinery had been used for war pur- | loses. We, however, cannot do much to help them in this respect here. It is one of the problems that they will have to solve for themselves, and I rather think that any suggestions of a public nature, at least from anyone outside the British Isles, would ho looked upon, even through friendly eyes, as interfering in matters which really did not directly concern us, though indirectly it is of supreme consequence to us to see the people in the Mother-land succeed.”