Le Nord : revue internationale des Pays de Nord - 01.06.1938, Page 391

CHRONIQUE TRIMESTRIELLE
381
north to Stavanger is under con-
struction and will be finished in
1942.
The work of the local tax com-
missions has given for its final re-
sult that there has been an increase
of more than 14 per cent. in the
total income from 1936/37 to
1937/38; the increase in fortune is
nearly 10 per cent. The increase in
income has been more marked in
the rural districts, 15 per cent., than
in the towns, 13,6 per cent. The
growth in fortune has been more
marked in the towns, a little over
10 per cent. as against 9.5 per cent.
in the rural districts.
In the course of 1937 the foreign
debt of Norway diminished by 109
million Kroner.
The state budget for 1937/38 has
given a surplus of 36 million
Kroner.
The summer of 1938 was rainy
and not very good from the tour-
ist’s point of view; but on the whole
the crop was satisfactory and the
results have been estimated at 103.7
per cent of an average year. The
value of the grain production in the
country is now more than the
double of the production in pre-war
years. Wheat is grown on six times
as large an area as in 1914. The
State Monopoly has given about
14.7 million Kroner in support of
national grain-production last year.
The international whaling situa-
tion (cfr. the article by professor
Bergersen, p. 112 ff.) has so far im-
proved as Japan and Australia
which have until now been out-
siders, on the conference in London
in the month of July promised to
sign the international whaling con-
vention. But prices have been going
down and all wages have been re-
duced by a total of 22 per cent. It
took a good deal of mediation to
get the parties to agree to the new
tariff. 12 Norwegian expeditions
are in the Antarctic this season,
with 90 whaleboats. The total num-
ber of expeditions will be 35, with
296 boats. Japan has 6 expeditions
with 49 whaleboats; Germany 5 ex-
peditions with 41 boats.
On Oktober 30th Dr. Koht,
the Foreign Minister, gave a public
exposé of Norway’s position dur-
ing and after the European crisis
and the Munich agreement. In his
speech he emphasized that the po-
licy of the Great Powers has made
the League of Nations impotent as
a political instrument. “Unfor-
tunately the distrust in Great Po-
wers expressed from the first mo-
ment by the Labour Party and