The Hokitika Guardian SATURDAY, JANUARY 7th, 1922. THE WEEK.

Hokitika Guardian, 7 January 1922, Page 2

The Hokitika Guardian SATURDAY, JANUARY 7th, 1922. THE WEEK.

Irish affairs are prominently to the front again this week. The best news is the general support being accorded throughout the country to the ratification of the treaty. Mr de Valera and his friends are evidently prepared to carry on the rebellion indefinitely as a sort of permanent occupation. Apparently when the treaty is ratified they will be prepared to revolt against the new Irish government, which gives point to the assertion that an Irishman is invariably, “agin the government.” However the matter is too serious for any jocular reference, and wo must continue to hope for the best relying on the good sense of the people io turn the balance. As a contemporary has put it: The Irish rural population for a considerable time past has lived more or less at the mercy of the rebel gunmen, and it is possible that tho Free State Government—if it. comes into existence —will have its hands fill] extirpating these gentry. It was inevitable in such a campaign as Sinn Fein has conducted that despotic power should fall into the hands of an irresponsible minority. The new scheme of government gives the moderateminded mass of the people an opportunity of seizing the reins of authority. Whether Ireland has advanced sufficiently in its ideas of democratic government for them to hold it for any length of time has yet to be proved.

The most important question at the moment is that of the ability of the world to recover itself financially. According to a late Melbourne telegram it is said that trade conditions

throughout the world will not readjust themselves for some time, probably for a longer period than most people realise, is the opinion of Colonel Browning, head of the firm of Twiss and Browning, England, who is on a visit to Melbourne. Colonel Browning was A.D.C. to Lord Roberts, and he accompanied the field-marshal during his visit to France in November 1914, when he died. Colonel Browning was Controller of the Trade Clearing House, which became the War Trade Intelligence Department. Colonel Browning said that there wafe a possibility that the improvement jyould bo as sudden as the decline. The world was experiencing unprecedented conditions, the aftermath of the war, and no ono could predict when they would readjust themselves. The settlement must be slow in Great Britain on account of the heavy taxation. It was extraordinary how the people of Great Britain met the taxation, and the inherent wealth of the nation was remarkable. Many people however, could not face the double taxation on land and income, and great changes in the ownership of land were in progress; in fact, the increased taxtion had practically only begun to operate during the last year or two

An arresting account of the enormous losses recently suffered by British investors in shipping shares is given by a Cardiff correspondent of the “Economist.” There- is no shipping centre in the United Kingdom, he observes, where investors have 'been so badly hit by the world depression in trade as they have been at Cardiff. Two years ago new capital was subscribed to shipping companies “with the violence of a torrent.” In June 1919, over thrty new companies were formed with a registered capital of between three and four millions sterling, and by the end of that year some 50 or 60 more concerns were registered, involving the public subscription of several more millions. Very few exprienced shipowners, however, acquired tonnage under the conditions of inflation thus induced. They sold far more than they bought, and secured prices ranging up to £3O per ton deadweight for vessels they had built, or bought second-hand, before the war for from £5 to £7 per ton. “The event,” the correspondent observes, “has justified the wisdom of the old and punished the daring recklessness of youth and the inordinate cupidity of speculative He mentions the case of one company which has lost probably every penny of an ordinary share capital of £2,500,000 while of a debenture capital of £1,000,000 it was expected that less than half would be returned to the debenture-holders. A large number of shipping companies, the correspondent adds, have overdrafts considerably in excess of the current market value of the tonnage held as security for them. Out of a group of 43 Cardiff shipping shares of a nominal value of £1 only four were quoted at the end of October at a price over ten shillings, and approximately twenty were quoted at prices ranging from three shilings to one shilling.

Belgium as a party to the reparations agreement has not been heard of for some time, hut she now appears concerned lest in the kaleidoscopic changes of Allied policy her claims to priority of payment may be overlooked. If the Allies act on a go-as-you-please principle in dealing with Germany, Belgian interests must suffer severely. The Belgians have no means of bringing effective pressure to 'bear on Germany, and they have more than once expressed a strong desire to see the Allies at all hazards acting in concord in making the German Government toe the line. The Belgians were greatly disappointed at the territorial settlement under the Peace Treaty so far ns they were affected. They have had 50,000 buildings destroyed!, and the war damage to their industrial establishments alone is put at £500,000,000. Before the war the Belgian debt was 149 millions, and to-day it is 620 millions. The heroic resistance of Belgium in the early days of the war gave the Allies a momentary breathing space that wag probbly the chief factor in preventing a very great disaster. In recognition of that stand the 'Allies have made the Belgian claims a first charge on the German reparation payments. The new arrangements nowunder discussion whereby in lieu of gold France receives payment in kind by the Germans, and Britain makes offsets in view of the change would leave Belgium apparently on a !

favourable footing than before. Germany systematical}’ laid waste Belgian manufacturing plants with up-to-date machinery capable of competing successfuly with German industries and it is no more than just that the Belgian people should be assured that priority in reparation they have 'been promised.

As it is now defined, the position taken up by France on naval questions at the Washington Conference is one which will bo almost universally condemned. She has not only insisted upon a ratio of submarine tonnage which would permit a threefold increase in her present flotillas, but is demanding a modification of the navnl holidays conditions which may imperil the agreement reached with respect to capital ships. Looking only at the submarine issue, it is manifest that France has gone out of her wav to flout and antagonise Great

Britain. What she hopes to gain by that course it is impossible to imagine, but Mr Balfour obviously was well within the mark in stating that Britain could not regard with indiffeience the establishment of a great fleet of submarines n few miles from hei coast. It is almost unthinkable that any French Government would be permitted to build such a submarine fleet as was declared at the conference to be the irreducible minimum. Presumably t the whole idea of the French Government is to establish a bargaining advantage. Such tactics however place France in a very unfavourable light. Apart from the immediate harm they occasion in narrowing the practical outcome of the Washington Conference, they expose France to a serious danger of isolation. It is very desirable that the whole question should be thrashed out at the open session now contemplated. Meantime Fran-co-Britisli interests, as well as of the (Allies generally, are being thrashed oujt at Cannes, where tho British Prime Minister is combining rest with dutv

The Week closes the new Year holidays ; ;in ’this neighbourhood. The wheels of industry will begin to revolve next week and the people will soon settle down. The weather has -been excellent since the had break at Christmas. Perfect days have followed in i succession, the countryside being well bathed in bright sunshine. The princii pal events of the week outdoors were all liberally patronised. Crowds traveiled by trains to all local fixtures. The attendances generally were above tho average. The totaisator which is regarded as something of a financial barometer dropped somewhat, hut the full is not at all in proportion to the heavy decline in many other places, 1 particularly the North Island. This fact hears out the generally expressed . 1 contention that the Coast is one of tho i places least affected by the financial stringency pervading the Dominion. . | The mills will he generally resuming j from now oh, but unfortunately orders I are not yet too plentiful. Employ- , ment will he scarce for some time to come, though the Government, local I bodies and all able to do so should assist as much as possible to help relieve [ the situation and prevent it becom- , ing too difficult.