The Evening Post WELLINGTON, THURSDAY, SEPTEMBER 13, 1945. CONCRETE REALITIES

Evening Post, Volume CXL, Issue 64, 13 September 1945, Page 6

The Evening Post WELLINGTON, THURSDAY, SEPTEMBER 13, 1945. CONCRETE REALITIES

No people faced up to the demands of total war with greater fortitude and in a stronger spirit of self-sacrifice than the people of Great Britain, and no people more richly deserve to enjoy the fruits of the victory their efforts made possible. Today, however, there is mounting evidence that, if the immense economic difficulties which have followed in the wake of war are to be successfully overcome and Britain is to regain the export trade which she sacrificed to maintain her war effort, the people of Britain must be prepared for still further sacrifices. The picture given yesterday by the special correspondent of the Press Association of the position in which. Britain now finds herself after six years of war was not reassuring. "The menace of inflation," he said, "is hovering over Great Britain, and concern is growing regarding its possible descent." He went on to point out that during the war the British public saved in securities and deposits £9,000,000,000, of which £3,750,000,000 comprised small savings. Today, after the long, weary drag of the war, abstinence, rationing, bombing, and fair wear and tear, there was a gigantic consumer demand throughout the country. Before that could be met with any degree of satisfaction Britain must build up her export trade to extricate herself from her position as a debtor nation. In other words, the people of Britain have ample money to buy whatever they want, but until the nation's export position has been re-established, there is little prospect of many of the goods they want, even essential goods, being available. Thus the danger of inflation —a pressure of surplus spending power on a limited marker-becomes very real and challenging. In an address to the British Trades Union Congress, reported today, the Prime Minister (Mr. Attlee) made no secret of the great economic difficulties which lie ahead, and he called for the application .to- the problems of reconstruction of the same spirit which inspired the nation's war effort. Are the people of Britain prepared to meet the economic difficulties of 1-e postwar period with the same fortitude as they met the demands of six years of total war? The "Economist" declares that the public are tired and ignorant and that there is no Dunkirk spirit on the reconstruction front. In saying that the paper does not condemn, but rather excuses, the people. "The moral sanction of war, which alone supported controls and made possible the crushing wartime taxation, has gone," the "Economist" says, "and nothing has yet taken its place. To fill that void is one of the most urgent tasks of the Government." The paper adds that a crying need is for an intensive publicity drive to bring home to the people the concrete realities of transitional problems—to demonstrate the importance of restraint by consumers, hard work from workers, and patience from all. It has always been a characteristic of British people that the tougher the objective the stronger is their determination to reach it, and we have no doubt that in the critical years ahead it will be shown that once again that characteristic will enable the nation to emerge triumphantly from its present and future difficulties. Provided the objective is clear, as it was in the struggle against the Axis Powers, there should be no doubt about the response of the people of Britain to j the continued demands that must be made upon them. Mr. Attlee and other British leaders, fresh from their triumph at the polls, have wisely refrained from disguising the seriousness and urgency of the problems of the transitional period, and that example, if it is followed by others who have a special responsibility in guiding the people of Britain through their post-war difficulties, should encourage that spirit of realism which is so essential an& so pressing. Under the spur of war the people of Britain inspired the rest of the world. Will they, under the spur of economic difficulties, once again set an example in fortitude and self-sacrifice? Given wise leadership, we believe- they can and will. Although the transitional problems that face New Zealand are not to be compared with those of Great Britain, there also exists here a , need for realism on the part of both Government and people if economic j pitfalls are to be avoided. There must be a realisation that the path to prosperity and a sound economy has not been made easier merely because the war has ended; in many respects the path has been made more difficult, and hard, economic facts• dictate that | there can be no short-cuts. To promise i the people that the high living : standards which they now enjoy will ; be maintained and even improved is ; not enough; the people must be made to understand that their living standards depend on production and that greater production can only be achieved by hard work. There could be no greater disservice to the country 1 than to encourage a belief that victory ; confers automatic benefits. Like the : people of Britain, the people of New : Zealand must, by their own efforts, work out their own salvation. There is no other way.