BRITAIN AND EUROPE

Evening Post, Volume CXXXVI, Issue 71, 21 September 1943, Page 4

BRITAIN AND EUROPE

CHARGE FOR THE FUTURE Rec. noon. RUGBY, Sept. 20. Throughout Europe the admiration both of the British military effort and ! British unity continues to grow, said Sir Samuel Hoare, who is on a periodic visit to England, in a speech at Chelsea. "An Army superbly equipped that runs into millions, an Air Force that can command the European air—these are new facts of predominant importance to every European. "I have watched their impact on the mind. For some time i they"made little impression. The German military machine had for so long dominated the Continental mind that any military rival seemed unthinkable.

j "It was the Eighth Army in Africa that destroyed the illusion. It was General Alexander and General Montgomery who finally exposed Hitler's I gibe that the British Army was commanded by idiots." Sir Samuel Hoare added .that today, with the help of our Allies, this military strength was a guarantee of British victory: tomorrow it must be a safeguard of European stability. As for British unity, Sir Samuel Hoare showed how the facts / had spoken for themselves in dispelling the idea in the logical Continental mind that after the Statute of Westminster, and still more under the strain of war, the British Empire would dissolve. EUROPE SEES AND WONDERS. "Once again, wondering Europe sees the unity of common purpose and not race or religion or system of government that makes and maintains a great Empire, and it is spiritual fervour, not material selfishness, that animates the great Empire's policy and action." he said. -

The very magnitude of British prestige carried with it a correspondingly high responsibility. The first elementary needs which post-war Europe would look to Britain to help to satisfy were for food and order, and he had no doubt that we realised the urgency of these two necessities.

Speaking of Russia and Communism, Sir Samuel Hoare said: "The danger to Europe is not Russian influence, but Russian isolation. In any stable world the greatest of the Slav peoples, whose territories possess vast resources and whose achievements have"1 amazed the world, must take its rightful place.". Europe's third need, he continued, was liberty—"the very essence of European life." He expressed the conviction that no State could safely be allowed a monopoly of power, saying he shared the view of many of his Continental friends who wished to see a renaissance of non-State activities in Europe. RESTORING LIBERTY. He added that he had assured his Continental friends that the British were determined to maintain historic and traditional liberties. "Today millions in Europe are looking to us for help to recover the inestimable treasure of individual liberty," he concluded. "Our political stability in Britain enables us to take a lead in this crusade. Our history impels us along this road. And now our military strength entitles us to speak and act with a clarity and force that cannot be ignored. "Such is the responsibility which our great achievements have placed upon our shoulders. Such is the opportunity which these four years of trial, endurance, sacrifice, suffering, defeat, and victory have given us for the defence and preservation of the spiritual treasures of Europe."—B.O.W. KILLING OF BEEF The Dominion executive of the Master Butchers' Federation has decided to request the Food Controller to impose immediately a killing quota on beef cattle,and to reduce by 33 1-3 per cent, till November 30 the numbers killed for domestic consumption in both the North and South Islands. It, was suggested by the executive that the numbers killed on account of each butcher or operator during July should be taken as the normal kill, with provision for any special cases where July would not be an equitable basis.

The federation also resolved to make representations to the Price Tribunal for amendments to the provisions of Price Order No. 98. It was claimed that this had been drawn up on the basis of conditions ruling in thte seasons immediately preceding the war, including weather conditions and pasture growth. It was claimed that the conditions were too rigid to apply to every season. Provision should be made so that seasonal increases permitted under the order should be variable in conformity with the conditions ruling and the quantity of stock available during that particular winter and early spring.