CURRENT TOPICS.

Taranaki Daily News, Volume LVII, Issue 243, 23 March 1915, Page 4

CURRENT TOPICS.

THE ECONOMIC POSITION. Writing in the Fortnightly on "The Banks and the War Crisis," Mr H. J. Jennings says the banks 'have passed throqgh a trying time. Never in their history have they had to face such a crisis as that which the war resulted in, and caution is still an indispensable factor. For the present the worst is over, but the chances of the titanic struggle in which we are engaged may yet cause another wave of depression. The results of the war upon trade are shown in the diminished volume ot cheque clearings. The decreases in turnover as compared with 11)13 were:—August, £580,321,000; September, £478,103,000; October, £337,821,000; Novemb.-f, £400,100,000. There is some satisfaction in the fact that there has been an improvement, in the comparative position since the August collapse. ' Writing on the effect of the war on work and wages, Mr. ,T. A. Hobson, M.A., author of Work and Wealth, states that at no time has there been a very large stoppage or reduction of work. The comparative smallness of unemployment is due to two causes—tiie war expenditure in certain trades, and the'enlistment. ilobson remarks that economic political courage may be as essential factors in the successful conduet of tile war as military courage. The State and municipalities must be willing to undergo the risks and sacrifices that are necessary to maintain as far as possible the full, regular, and adequately paid volume' of employment by compensating unavoidable roi-urcions of private employment by expansions o.' public employment. Tn the Contemporary, Mr J. H. Harley, dqalin" with labor and the war, presents another aspect of tlie situation. Peace for thy world of labor followed on tbe news of war, and that has been worth a great deal to us. New problems and a widely different general outlook are being forced on the most hardened extremist by bis experience in the Valley of Tribulation. In some respects the effect of the war has been to weaken the trade unions. In other respects it has widened their outlook, and broadened their survey. The epoch of syndicalist day dreams has at length come to a close.