Mass Of Social Legislation For Post-War Britain

Auckland Star, Volume LXXVI, Issue 88, 14 April 1945, Page 4

Mass Of Social Legislation For Post-War Britain

By JAMES LANSDALE HODSON

LONDON, March 30. A GOOD deal of argument • and discussion is proceeding •• as to whether after Britain's first general election, which will follow within : a few months of the end of * the, war in Europe, it will be a good thing or not for the country to'have Coalition Government. Churchill and Eden believe, I think, it would, on the ground that the issues to be decided in international affairs especially are so momentous that our representatives ought to be able to feel that the whole nation is behind them.

There are strong elements both in Labour and Liberalism that are against a further Coalition, arguing that Coalition has a debilitating influence, and on many fundamental questions Conservatism and "their own beliefs are so opposed as k to make collaboration and expression of unified view in honesty impossible. * But whatever sort of Government we have. Coalition or Conservative or Socialist, we are going to see ~ a considerable, mass of social legislation passed into law (for Churchill has said that all leading men of all three parties are committed to it). This legislation will have deep, beneficial influences on • life ■- in this country. Work-houses, education, health, national insurance —all these fall within its scope.

One curious thing is the amount of ignorance that still exists among our people as to what is going to be done. Granted that on many of these projects we have only had, as yet, Government White Papers outlining facts, ideas and proposals, and criticisms have 'arisen that' (a) there are too many White Papers; (b) ignorant people are being encouraged to think a White Paper is .an Act of Parliament. But, none-the-less, some outline of a new Britain-is pretty firmly drawn. Already, for instance, the Education Bill is law. Instead of most children leaving school at 14 they will go on till 15 and as spon as school teachers are available (true, nobody can yet say precisely when that will be) till 16; even after leaving school, until they are 18 years old, children will remain under educational influence by parttime attendance at country colleges. Both technical and adult education will be extended, all designed to support our industry and commerce. But we are- not only going to feed- their, minds better, but their bodies also.

At the moment 4,500,000 children out of 5,500,000 get milk at school every day. We intend that every, one should get it, and those who wish,'it, a meal at school, also, once-kitchen equipment can be obtaihed and installed. But admittedly all this-will take a long time for we need.l2,ooo new schools, a -host of new teachers and kitchen equipment that does:not yet exist. Lord Woolton, Minister of Reconstruction, asserts however, that free milk and meals in schools, coupled with the new family allowances for children to be paid to parents for every child after the first, will do more to improve the nutrition and welfare of our young people than any other single measure in our social history.

High And Stable Employment Level If education is a main fundamental, regular work is certainly another. The Government for the first time since we have been a nation has pledged itself to secure a high and stable level of employment, allowing,' is, for no more than about eight per cent unmployment.. This is- a bold pledge. Rightly kept, it rules out any recurrence of 2,500,000 men and women out of work such as we had between the two wars.

We shall be working very, hard in post-war years striving to send overseas exports 50 per cent more than we ever did before, indeed five to six times as much as we did in 1943. To do it will mean we shall .be' short of .good things at home. Very hard work on pretty short commons will be the picture, but it "will- be better than unemployment. The crucial test will come—say in five to ten yeairs' —time when the world's immediate demands are met and it seems to me that the Government will have to be more adventurous in great development schemes (such as the Severn Barrage, for example, and great bridges like the Humber Bridge), than it has been in the past. To begin post-war export expansion, Parliament is to be asked to raise the Government's liability, under an export guarantee, from pre-war £75,000,000 to £200,000,000. A third step forward Is to be made in attempting to raise the nation's health. Although there is, at the moment, probably an increase in minor ill-health among adults—r-a lot of us feel out-of-sorts and tired—the death-rate of mothers in childbirth and children under ten has markedly declined during World War 11, owing largely to the special distribution to them of orange juice, cod-liver-oil and other vitamins, and of course milk. (We consume nearly 300,000,000 gallons of milk more in England and Wales than we did in 1938). We are now going to extend medical services that will be available under a new Health Insurance Scheme that will cover not only the workman, but his wife and family too, and will give them in addition to the family doctor, a consultant specialist, treatment for teeth and eyes, hospitals, and surgical appliances for midwifery, etc. All will be provided for in a weekly payment we shall make, no matter what our income is. We are bent as a nation not merely on mending ill-health but on increasing good health.

Not all doctors or all citizens will chocse to woMc under or use this scheme; ■fcell-to-do people will often carry on as they do now, having their own private doctor ana paying him. But the bulk of our people will use the new scheme, and it will be far better than anything they have had hitherto. Dentists' services alone will be a godsend, but we are almost certainly going to find ourselves short of the dentists we need—in itself a measure of our former lack.

This widely extended medical service, however, is only a part of the new National Insurance Bill to be placed before Parliament. There will be one card and one stamp, but benefits will include those paid when unemployed, when sick, benefits for maternity, retirement, when injured in industry and at death.

I think it is fair to say that these attempts to improve our well-being and education are remarkable in so far as they have been thought out in part and brought into being during a world war. In a nation as impoverished as we are in money and goods, it is more than ever plain that our true wealth lies in our people and nowhere else. Even when all this social legislation is passed and working—a struggle will be required to achieve this—we shall still be a long way from the Britain some of us Want to see, but we are moving along. • • - •• •