LOOKING FORWARD

Hokitika Guardian, 27 February 1933, Page 3

LOOKING FORWARD

NEW YEAR HOPES

MESSAGE FROM MR BALDWIN

LONDON, January 0. In a new year message, Mr Stanley Baldwin, lead-er of the Conservative Baity in England stated:—

It is a laudable custom to take stock of our po&ition at the beginning f a New Year; to loox back on the ..'ork of the past 12 months and ask ourselves what we have accomplished ; to look forward to the tasks that lie ahead and’ determine what we must seek to achieve before the end of anther year. A year ago tilings looked difficult and dangerous, and the state of, national trade and finance gave cause for the gravest anxiety. The country had given the National Government a remarkable assurance of its confidence and trust, and those of us who were charged with the responsibility of justifying our people in their faith, and who knew the difficulties with which we were surrounded, faced the coming year with no light hearts. That was 12 months ago. To-day, after an arduous year we are able to say, beyond fear of contradiction, that we have been true to our trust. The Government may have made mistakes, for even National Governments with record majorities are human, hut with a rarp singleness oi purpose it has devoted itself to the national interest. Its reward is that the affairs of the country have been restored to a condition in winch prosperity is possible. A year ago conditions made disaster probable and prosperity impossible—as enormous as that between an invalid who is dangerously ill and one who is convalescent.

GOVERNMENT ACHIEVEMENT. The Government, with the loyal and unfaltering support of the people, lias put the national finances on a stable basis—in itself a gigantic task. It has balanced the Budget and, by its great conversion schemes, procured cheap money both fortthe State and for industry. Where imports were so much ip excess of exports, that we were approaching the point when purchases from abroad would have to he financed by borrowing, we-have so far adjusted the trade balance 1 that this danger is no longer acute. It is a notable achievement in the restoration and strengthening of .the foundations on which cur economic life rests, and if to some it lacks, the element oft the spectacular, it was none the less the essential first stage in any scheme for national reconstruction.

.-Two steps taken during"'the. year must a fford particular satisfaction to the Conservative party. The first -is

the abandonment of the system of onesided free trade and the adoption of a comprehensive and scientific system of tariffs. The second is the adoption of the principle of Imperial preference' and its effective application in the Ottawa Agreements. While both these steps were taken on the broadest national grounds, it is a legitimate source of pride to Conservatives that two of the principle? for which they fought so long, and often with a sacrifice of immediate gain, havei been adopted on ther merits and by general consent under a National Government.

Had we been living under the old regime of party politics it would have been a wonderful year for the Conservative party had tariffs and Imperial preferencei been placed oil. the Statute Book within the spree of Iff months. Our satisfaction need not be the less because this has taken place with a National Government in power. On the contrary, it should he the greater since we have thi* assurance that the new fiscal policy will have a fair and extended trial, without the risk of being disturbed or reversed by the. alterations of party politics. Though we have adopted a tariff policy, this has not been done in order that wo may join the building of ever-higher tariff walls. That way lies the destruction rather than the development of international trade. It is our object to use tariffs as a weapon in the struggle for freer world trade, and already the first promise of success is to be found in the approaches made by Protectionist countries with a view to securing arrangements which will encourage tluv development of mutual trade.

The fallacy of prohibitive tariffs lies in the assumption that a country may thus make itself prosperous in a pov-erty-stricken world. This is a delusion. America, with all the advantages of its wide resources, tried to isolate itself in prosperity a iid failed, ,and where America was brought down in the general collapse, no other country may hope to stand alone against universal depression. It is the recognition of this that compels the Government to attach so much importance to the proposed World Economic Conference, for it is only through a general movement towards prosperity, started and accelerated by the removal of the obstructions to finance and trade, that this country or any other country may hope to progress.

Meanwhile, there i.s evidence that when the world advances towards’ a general recovery we shall once- more be in the forefront. The salvage work f th(> past year lias saved us from file worst of the experiences Hint have overtaken other countries. W ok others have drifted deeper into., tli • morass .of unemployment, we have.'held our ground. During the mist a ear, when the trade of the world has «"f----fered a serious decline, «ur exports

have actually shown a small advance, and where we had dropped to thud place among the great exporting countries we .are now once more, at Uh head of the list. All this is to the good so tar as d gees. It is a clear encoura ' uneut to go on as we have started; to work event harder than we have lone, m courage and patience; and —most important of all—to wot',; together, shoulder to shoulder, ref i>.jng to break the national ranks . r to jut any sectional interests above the national cause. If we enter upon the the work of 1933 in this spirit, we may hope to take a long stride towards better things before the year come to a close.