The Daily News. WEDNESDAY, NOVEMBER 12, 1919. THE WORLD'S TASK.

Taranaki Daily News, 12 November 1919, Page 4

The Daily News. WEDNESDAY, NOVEMBER 12, 1919. THE WORLD'S TASK.

It is usual for the British Prime Minister to take acjvantage of .the annual banquet at the Guildhall o{i the evening of Lord Mayor's Day, to make pronouncements on the important affairs affecting the Homeland and the 'world at large. Naturally, in this first' year of peace after the great military struggle, Mr Lloyd George dwelt upon the effect of the war on the belligerents, the questions still awaiting settlement, and the outlook generally, and the conclusion he arrived at was that "if we all put heart into the task, we can not paly repair the ravages of War,

but enter an era of prosperity such' as Britain has never seen." He, apparently, based this opinion on the marvellous recuperative power of the nation, coupled with the admirable recovery in its trade figures, and the better feeling wliiqh existed between capital and labor. Paced with an increase in the National Debt from £650,000,000 to £5,400,000,000, and with a heavy daily expenditure that is still abnormally high, Britain has a financial hurdle of considerable magnitude to negotiate, but, as Sy George Paish pointed out in a recent article on "The Economic Outlook in Europe," the financial strength and credit of Britain are still undiminished. Prior to the war the nation's wealth was calculated at about £16,000,000,000, and still possesses net wealth to the value of £15,000,000,000, while, if current values of property of all kinds are accepted, Britain's Wealth is now very much greater than before the war, and she Would have little difficulty in paying her way were it not for the help she continues to render to the Entente nations. It is admitted by leading experts that the economic financial position is exceedingly dangerous, for Europe faces bankruptcy and chaos, besides which Germany is so short of food that starvation in the coming winter Inay take a heavy toll of life. Prance, in the first four months of the current year, imported goods at the rate of 960 millions per annum, and exported at the rate of only 162 millions. If, therefore, the conditions in France are deplorable, far more so are those in Italy, Germany and Austria, bence the probability of intense pressure being put on Britain in the immediate present and future. Mr Lloyd George, however, is by |no means dismayed. Only recently he said:

I don't want to see Britain sitting in its armchair with the stuffed trophies of its victories around it. I want it to reclaim the wilderness, to clear the jungle of slums, poyerty, drunkenness, ignorance, wrong and tyranny. That is a great career, not merely for a man, but for a people.

A.t the Guildhall banquet he struck a confident note by stating: "The common-sense and goodwill which carried us through the war will carry us through peace." The great disturbing factor which is seriously hampering the world's task of settling down to recover from the effects of the war, is Russia. "Peace," said Mr Lloyd George, "was impossible until there was peace in Russia, and the outlook is not pleasant." He dreaded that intermediate campaigns would devastate a country that was essential to the prosperity of the world, and he hoped the time was not far distant when the Powers would be able to renew their attempt to secure a settlement, with a prospect of success. Apart from Russia, the British Premier regards the outlook as good. Most people will be inclined to consider that such an assertion ean hardly be accepted without reservations. It is quite true that ■after such a terrible upheaval as that which, during the last five years, has shaken the foundations of the nations, it would be reasonable to expect a return to normal in a year. There is a great task before the world, needing unprecedented concentration of effort, and the exercise of the greatest economy possible. On \he co-operation of labor in the work of production much will depend, hence the urgency of crushing Bolshevism, removing grievances, and establishing industrial peace on a firm basis. The world is passing through a crisis only second in magnitude to that from which it recently emerged, and the result must be a matter of anxiety for statesmen and people.