THE CONFERENCE

Rotorua Morning Post, Volume 2, Issue 585, 17 July 1933, Page 4

THE CONFERENCE

The news that a plenary session will be held for the pitrpose of adjouming the economlc conference, while it is not unexpected, is distinctly disappointing. Since the deadlock whieh arose as a result of the American refusal to participate in tehiporary currency stabilisation, the conference hhs proceeded very lamely and although artificial respiration methods have been applied, it has beeome mcreasingly apparent that this gathering on which so many high hopes were fixed, must break up without any very definite results. It cannot be held that the conference has been- entirely fruitless for it has given the statesmen of the world an opportunity I to discuss their problems in con'cert. Nevertheless, it must be I admitted that the major probjlems which were to have been Isolved must be left very much j as they were. Probably the most satisfied of the participants will be that astute gentlemen, M. Litvinoff, who has apparently succeeded in negotiating several promising trade agreements on behalf of Soviet Russia. Although there is not a great deal to justify optimism at the present stage, it is to be hoped that New Zealand has achieved some-

; thing in the same direction j j through the efforts of the dele- | 1 gation which represented her at r | the conference. The expense in- ' ivolved in sending the Prime | Minister, and one . of his chief | lieutenants, together with a not j inconsiderable entourage to Lon- j don, will be large and it is to be J hoped, quite apart from any- i thing else, that it has not been ' entirely wasted. However, crying over spilt milk ! will get us nowhere and the na- ; tions will apparently be left to solve their own problems in their ; own way. It may be, as one com- ; mentator expressed it, that the worlcj has not yet suffered sufficiently to make it realise that international co-operation is essen- i

tial. The most unfortunate as- ! pect of the whole situation, how- | ever, is that it will be very diffi- j cult again to convene a similar i conference. Hopes once shatter- 1 ed, are difficult to restore but so long as recriminations in the pre- I sent case, do not extend too far, it may be possible for the broken threads to be picked up again and woven into something that will endure.