EMPIRE WILL STAND

Rotorua Morning Post, 31 August 1931, Page 2

EMPIRE WILL STAND

I-Ve are Ilving in a remirkable aga, an age that will go oo\yn in history as a vihu ti.Tiiing point in the evolution of civi,iEat:oii. i-if.y or oue hiiiidred years hence the schoolboy ♦.ii4 leau Wisii tauea breath oi ihe events . which are occnrring iai okgiiouc ihe worta ai the present thne — evsnfcs which made tiXe h-eii0us coneeptioiis oi world affars pals into insignificance. a liiay* tv. yac1, it a'modt certaiii.y wiil, be that the prornihent ii uir.is 111 vVorid airairs to-day, Ramsay MacDonald, Baldwin, v^ii: so.i. Mussoiini, lioover a:id others will take on the legend^fY°nr 0; Aferahani Lincoln. • it rney be that Scullin, the krune Ministcr ea:" thp Commonwealth, that aursery of a future - r 'n; 32 :-:oiX w iirh is passing through the most critica1 stage t V:h WI]I .tak? 1 he ppotlight arnongst the truly great. We say id.g . Li, advisoc'ly, ior although, in the past, crises have called nr.o pi oniinezce the mcn of the hour, Australia seems to be ng m vain, and that bvcr-governed and und er-diseiplined ' f" X.,Y^er'f? '">s ac*°P-Lig the time worn Eritish trait 01 mna .n. g ciiror.gh. ^ At oue stage it lcoked as though r.flX^L.11*1*"0. L'onrh his rnethoas are and hatefnl to ihe rsr..:ov:;y, rrzght Le big encugh to force liis will on the peoy e nave pro\-ed too much for even Lang and the ..izi tcst of cireumslance has proved that he is not the pare i;na..cyed ygald that senie believed on the strengfch of h s Isnge soundiiig promises, Lufc is motai of a very much'baser descpption. \7e have had no Lang in New Zealand, fortunately. — vy'ix- •A-iLie Lme we *:ave nad no Gladstone to face the crisis iJ2^ llow> -&Q -caders of the parties are trying co-operation in oi .,er to_ LOaVe Uxe^ «ountry's compiex problems. If they have L.aico minds with hui a single thought, all may. be well, provLtoa oiie ihaugiit ys tne oue that is best; that is a question v.iuko oiny aine wi;i proye. I'aking a line through the troubles oi all countries of the Jbritish Ccmmonv/ealth, it is heid by some tiia.. uiii; great iuinpire is crumbling. In many cases the wish is L'Ui iatlier to Ihe tliought and we believe that it has no i'oundation. .The trutli is that the transition 01 transport, the (ompiexii.y of trade' and finance and the after effects of war have made NationsJ anairs Ihternational, and no country can au'ora lo get into an uneconomic state witliout having a serious efiect 011 aii oi the others. in ocher words, if the man to whom you are selnng your gcods goes bankrupt, then your goods will remain unsoid and your own profit unmade. Britain is still the Xirges c and most powerfui nation. Disaster to her would wreck ihe best markst which the ofcher nations have, therefore they7 are vitally concerned themseives in the settlement of Britain's problems. The nation is in a state of readjustment and reeonstruction and when this is complete ' the world will be in a better state. We believe that the settlement of the war debt cpiestion is a vital factor in this readjustment. When this question is finally disposed. of and the cost of Armageddon wiped otf by all nations as a bad debt, then we will see a rapid reiurn to normal times.