The Daily News. MONDAY, DECEMBER 6, 1920. THE STRUGGLE AHEAD.

Taranaki Daily News, 6 December 1920, Page 4

The Daily News. MONDAY, DECEMBER 6, 1920. THE STRUGGLE AHEAD.

For over six years past the nations of Europe have been passing through the fiery furnace that has tried and tested their strength and weakness. The greatest war in history has ended, the mighty have fallen, and the down-trodden are standing erect and jubilant at the prospect of freedom from tyranny and nationhood. The sound of armed strife is still to be heard in places, though for most part it has been replaced by the isilent, but none the less bitter, struggle for existence. "Europe," said Mr. Lloyd George recently, when addressing the Federation of British Industries, "is like a man in rags and tatters, standing before our well-stocked windows. Europe's pockets are full of paper money, but she cannot pay for what she wants." The simile was a very apt one. It strongly emphasises the fact that the post-war struggle has not yet been fully experienced, and that in all probability the most intense and crucial phase of the struggle has yet to be faced e*er the clouds of depression are dispersed and nations once more begin to live again. The British Premier appears to have no doubt as to the advent of a serious depression. He is not by any means an apostle of pessimism, and the more carefully the whole position is studied the more convincingly the indications point to the accuracy of Mr. Lloyd George's forecast. The question is one that not only affeets Europe, but is equally applicable to the Dominions. Giving evidence before the Arbitration Court at Wellington on Wednesday, Mr. Harold Beauchamp, Chairman of the Bank of New Zealand, said lie had prepared figures which he thought indicated that the country was passing through one of the gravest financial crises it-had ever experienced. Referring to the workers' application for the new bonus, he remarked that it would be an'extremely difficult matter for manufacturers, employees, and others to stand the additional strain it was proposed to place on them, adding that if New Zealand continued to enlarge the vicious circle, it would,' in the end, meet with a crisis of unparalleled magnitude. Unemployment is already in evidence in the Dominion, though nothing like

the extent it is in Australia and Britain. That Labor is forcing the pace at which depression is advancing is probably the worst phase of the evil, and it would seem that the coming twelve months are likely to evoke the most severe test of endurance, and to call for the greatest fortitude and resource in dealing with a situation that may develop into a crisis at any moment. The British way is to muddle through somehow, and this proverbial method may have been in Mr. Lloyd George's mind when he said: "I am convinced the strength of Britain will sustain us in passing through the struggle ahead." It is to be hoped this conviction may prove true, but the outlook is so grave that it behoves '/all wise people to exercise the greatest economy and yet as far as possible to encourage trade and industry. The prosperity New Zealand has enjoyed has placed her people in a very favorable position to meet bad times. All the same it is imperative that determined efforts should be made to reduce the cost of living and keep down the profiteering that recent Court cases show to be rampant amongst some sections of wholesale traders. A great responsibility rests on the Government in this matter, as well as in fostering industrial peace and employment.