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Hokitika Guardian, 27 April 1932, Page 4

Pit ion to the last Imperial Conference, Professor Stephen Leacock, the eminent economist of Canada, publislied ti volume on the Empire, which may. or may not, have been read by all the -delegates to the conference. It was a very clear exposition of the position of the Empire at that time and offered a cure for many of its ills. He might will he justified in saving, says a London coiTespoiident, “1 told you so,” at the present time, but he has written instead another small hook which will he published in the course of the next few _ weeks-. Under the title of “Back to Prosperity,” he writes of the great opportunities presenting themselves l to the* sections oi the Empire at the Ottawa Con fere nee. He sum in a rises his constructive suggestion-: as (b lows : “The collapse ol the gold standard having thrown all exchange into disorder, it is represented that the rectification ol the currency is not, for the constituencies of the Empire, a. domestic matter, but a. problem of common concern. It i-s proposed that the gold standard he restored with a lesser quantity of gold in tile sovereign and the dollar. Tn order to prevent any further fall in prices, it is recommended that a more extended use be made of silver, especially in the form of monetary certificates.” But all these things (Professor Leacoc-k con chides), even if accompl’Vdied, are only a beginning, only a few hesitant atop# on the pathway towards her ultimate goal. The final object to be achieved is the economic unity of the Empire in the real sense, so contrived as to make its resources and its industrial power the common a«ret of all its people. Tts capital must he available in its every quarter; and', above all. the part- of its population now crowded into the British Islcis must he able to move into the empty, fertile spaces of the newer lands. The dominions can never flourish till the flood-tide of migration mom: .again. Beyond this dream of a United Empire one: can in imagination seen an even wider and more inspiring prospect. A united Empire made so by the mechanism of integrated trade and unified exchange mnv serve as the pattern of a united world. All the Empire which can find mean-i to eliminate dislocation and unemployment and turn surplus population from burden to an ap.set, mayband on the lesson to humanity at large.