PROSPEROUS ERA

Rotorua Morning Post, Volume 2, Issue 330, 17 September 1932, Page 2

PROSPEROUS ERA

NEW ZEALAND CONDITIONS LESS SEVERE THAN IN EUROPE NO FEAR FOR FUTURE Some comments on "our present | discontents" and a comparison of the ■ straits in which European peoples find j themselves are contained in a letter i by Mr. F. M. B. Fisher to a Wellington friend, Mr. W. A. Thomson. Mr. Fisher writes as follows: — "My business has occupied me for the last six months on the Continent, where I have been in the closest of contact with every kind of social, e.conomic, and political trouble that can possibly be conceived. I have, indeed, been amazed at the heroism which is displayed hy the Continental people in standing up to the economic hardship^ from which they are suffering. These, I am certain, must far exceed any disabilities which are being encountered in New Zealand, where the population is relatively small, and the distribution of wealth, while not all that it could be, is certainly a great deal better than in these Continental countries. "I suppose that the_ degree of suffering is comparative,' and the people of New Zealand, especially the unemployed, so far removed from the trials and tribulations of the older world, no doubt think that their hardships are unequalled. If only they could see a fraction. of what I have had to see during the last six months, they would realise that in spite of all their hardships and disabilities, their conditions are much better than those of the great masses, which are on the starvation line in the majority of Continental countries. "It will take time for the world to get right," the letter continues. "So rude a shock as we have all suffered in conseqnence of the war cannot he remedied in the course of a year or two — it 4will take a decade at least. In the meantime it remains for the civil populations of the civilised countries to show something of the courage and f ortitude that was shown by those who fell in the war. "That better conditions will eventually ensue, I have not the slightest doubt. In spite of everything, the world must, and will progress, and in spite of everything the future of New Zealand is safer than that of any country I know. "If I may venture to express an opinion from afar," Mr. Fisher coneludes, "I would like to give you an assurance that so far as my judgment goes, based on a pretty wide experience, I would say that your temporary setback will, in due course, be followed by an era of prosperity. You need have no fear for the future; you must look forward to it with optimism and good-will."