6

An unbroken period of fixed exchange rates with all the day-to-day, week-to-week and year-to-year preoccupation with these thorny, albeit familiar, problems about stock-piling, seasonal variations, 'leads and lags', the movement of gold and the exchange of reserves, foreign confidence and central-bank cooperation, to say nothing of a succession of international conferences with endless proposals for increasing international liquidity and expanding international trade, all this has created stubborn material and intellectual interests. The cumulated weight of years of habitual response lies heavy on our spirit, and though our political leaders follow the fashion and croak 'challenge' from time to time there has been no response in terms of political ingenuity. For the recurring ailment nothing but more of the same old medicine: sweat, toil and exhortations to export.