WORLD CONFERENCE

Hokitika Guardian, 14 June 1933, Page 5

WORLD CONFERENCE

PKEMIER’S SPEECH PRESENT WORLD CONDITIONS. fP" Itish Official Wireless.) 'RUGBY, June 12. After the King had left tire Chamber, after delivering his speech to the Conference) Mr. Ramsay MacDonald addressed the Conference. He briefly outlined the state of the world that made the Conference necessary. The economic I’.ife of the- world, he said, has''for years been suffering from si decline which has closed factories, limited ' employment, reduced the Vtt.anclards of 'living, brought :spme States to the verge of bankruptcy and inflicted upon others, recurring budgets that cannot be balanced. Since 1929 prices have fallen and kept well below the level at which production can be remunerative. They have fallen irregularly, moreover, and have disJ wted 'mbrail 'and economic relational \pe. The -fall .in prices has added oppressively to the burden. of world 1929, production of raw material fed 30 per cent., ..and exchange between town and country has been, tragically limited. The national income has fallen seriously everywhere, in some countries between 40 and SO per cent, The general’, crisis, accentuated by re* strictions, by tariffs, by quotas, and by /exchange control, h~is reduced international trade between 1929 and 1932 to .less than three-quarters in volume, exchanging at about half the price. Inevitably, irrespective of policy and forms of Government, unemployment has mounted until the world figure reached thirty millions. This cannot go on.” Behind the subject he had mentioned, Mr MacDonald said was another of first-rate , importance, namely, war debts. The Conference was not constituted in sueh a wav os to enable it to consider and settle that matter.

(Mir MacDonald added.; ;.. The. war debts question must be dealt with before every obstacle to genera] ieco\ erv had beep, removed, and it must be taken up without dci'av by the notions concerned I arsarne .has to be completed, and this vexed ciuestion .settled once and for all, in the light of present world conditions. This conference is a sequel to the work done at Lausanne last, year, when by a conditional a (?rceircnt on how to drol with war debtsand reparations, Ewope was saved from immediate financial collapse. The world’, could Mot- righLifs'elfL .without an 'international agreement, The last few,; years had proved that .% purely national economic policy .impoverished'Other nations, and those who pnrgned it. The nearer they could mn.ee the world an, economic unit, the better would it, be for each, nation.; , The Prime f\Tm-V>tc r stressed that, rapidity of agreement n-ns essential tO On IC the President, the Brrc.au of-the. Conference wa 3 consttided a,s follows :~One representative from the delegation cf each of +he 0iWvimg countries: —Areentine, China, Czecho-Rlovakia, France, Germany, Croat Britain mfTungary. Italy. Japan. Vether.Vnds, SP»Jn ; Sweden. United States. Union of Soviet Fepv--lic. i?nd one pritVh Dominion; Canada. rhe ■Jlurenu. he’d: ,-kv .private'-meeang at the end of the plenary session.

DECLARATION BY PREMIER. i . O VVAR DEBTS MUST BE SETTLED. .f • LONDON; June 12. One of Mr MacDonald's ’best declarations,. undemonstratively received was that War debts must be settled, indeed takefi up immediately, and tne seal‘ put on: Lausanne’s ' labours. Mr jdacDonald; . trenchantly condemned self-suffering'economic nationalism, and again and again affirmed “We must not fail.” He was equally insistent-on the need for 1 speedy relief. The Conference is uniejue because it was inaugurated without a single nation suggesting a vestige of policy. There is at least, one point on which the Empire delegates - are in strong agreement—uplifting, commodity prices. General Smuts revealed’it was , the crying need of his country, and found Australia and New Zealand similarly obsessed.

The general comment draws . attention to , the quiet simplicity of tho opening indeed the silence .was nl- . most grim. All agree that the King s6t a splendid keynote, with which Mr MacDonald’s supplementary reiteration against failure was in keeping, but,as yet it is too early to find an indication of reaction. Mr Hull says: We have some surprises to spring. Delegates wore morning dress. The only touches of colour were two Arabcowls, and the inescapable heliotrope creation of General Smuts’.-woman secretary. . . The speeches begin at T0;30 to-mor-rroiv morning. BANQUET GIVEN TO DELEGATES. COMMERCE THE PEACEMAKER. LONDON, .Tune 13. • 'The -0 over men' crave a banquet to sW hundred CoMm-ei^e : rVWa+*s at Orosyeno- House Hotel. Mr Damsiy W MacDonald presiding, with M. Dala(Ter fHrenoh Premier) on bis ’"‘"M and Hull (U.S.A.) was on hi 3 left.

Mi- de Valera was the only notable

absentee. General Sir Tan Hamilton, who was attending another dinner in the hotel sent in five pipers of the Gordon Highlanders to play a triumphal maren round fifty tables.

Mr MacDonald, proposing the toast of the guests, said they were facing the hardest work that had ever been attempted by any conference. M. Daladier (Trance), responding, expressed the hope for the success of the Conference. Mr Hull (America) said that the j commerce between nations nas the world’s real peacemaker, j Tshhel MacDonald presided at I a dinner at the Doncaster Hotel to I one Ininrlrod and wives of delegates who later attended C-msvenor House.