The Evening Post

Evening Post, Volume CXL, Issue 129, 28 November 1945, Page 6

The Evening Post

WELLINGTON, WEDNESDAY, NOVEMBER 28, 1945

OUTSPOKEN MR. BEVIN

The black-listing of Mr. Churchill, in the pre-war years, by Hitler conferred on the future Prime Minister of wartime Britain the highest praise; and much the same may be said of Mr. Bevin as Foreign Secretary when his removal is demanded by Communists in Britain. Hitler's blacklisting helped to make both Churchill and Eden; when the Fuhrer sought, by terrorism, to ban them from Cabinet office in Britain, he merely confirmed their fitness for Cabinet responsibility. And when Mr. Pollitt calls for Mr. Bevin's exit from the office of Secretary for Foreign Affairs, amid the cheers of the Communist Party Congress, Mr. Pollitt gives Mr. Bevin the highest testimonial that it is within the Communists' power to give. If there is any doubt among any reasonable persons as to Mr. Bevin's quality, that doubt should be resolved when the Foreign Secretary is shot at first from the sßight and then from the Left. Bevin was well in the line of fire when King George of Greece, on November 20, declared that the postponement of the plebiscite in Greece on the question of restoring or- abolishing the •monarchy "amounts to stifling tlie sentiment in the Greek people which, as is kno,wn to all, is being clearly expressed in my favour at every opportunity." This Royalist attack, and the Communist attack, balance each other, and destroy each other. They are eloquent evidence that Mr. Bevin is holding the scales fearlessly. Some accusations ere really recommendations, and the Foreign Secretary can thank both the Communists and the King.

Answering criticism from both Right |and Left, Mr. Bevin is reported as having said that "Britain ,is full of emigres of various kinds," and that "there have been influences in this country [Britain] which, every time I tried to get an all-party Government in Greece, prevented me. ... I have mo objection to monarchy, but let it Ibe constitutional monarchy, not party [monarchy." These are not the words !of a Minister ,who is afraid either of | Right or Left. In fact, if fearlessness of utterance be the test, it would be difficult to find a Foreign Minister in Europe who is less afraid than Britain's Foreign Secretary. He faces facts outside the British Commonwealth of Nations—facts about Greece, Persia, Russia, etc.—and also inside the Commonwealth; and it requires as much nerve to say the difficult thing within as without. In his,latest utterance, reported today, he throws a searchlight on to Pacific problems present and future; warns all concerned that there are potentially great Asiatic Powers, as well as' European Powers; and says that the' British Commonwealth must meet Asia, and its "great rising nations," without the old superior attitude to the Asiatic, and "without colour prejudice." Whatever meaning Australia, with her White Australia policy, puts on these words, it must be admitted that Mr. Bevin is not afraid of sleeping dogs, the sleep of which is likely to bo short, and which cannot be omitted from the critical Pacific situation of the near future. I How near is the moment when critical decisions in the Pacific will have to be made? "I do not know," says Mr. Bevin, "whether the East is not more difficult than Europe. . . . All depends on what we do in the next two years. ... I believe that Asia can be guided along the path of selfgovernment and progress if she is met, helped, and understood,; and if, instead of having in the background the divisions and boundaries that threaten the world, we can give tlie lie to the old adage that east and west can never meet. . . . That will be my aim and-1 shall value the opinions of New Zealand and Australia, looking at the same things that are near to them and at other things that are Tar off." A Pacific Ocean on which Russia has secured new and improved outlets and ports (ice-free) alongside the Japan who was great yesterday and the China who may be great tomorrow; a Pacific, moreover, with millions of Javanese and Malayans, and Indonesians or Asiatics of various kinds; a Pacific where the old issue of collaborationists versus new brooms is being raised already in the Philippines and elsewhere—such a Pacific is far from being an Australian or a New Zealand lake, or even an American lake. Within two years, Mr. Bevin thinks, steps must be taken to decide whether the old forces, the new forces, and the possibly reviving forces in the Pacific will ultimately clash, or find permanent mutual adjustment. The period is not long. If nothing radical is done, the Pacific paradox of empty lands and crowded lands may continue to exist for some unpredictable period, but it rests on no basis of reality; and it has been pertinently said that persons , who expect this lopsidedness of population to continue for ever are living in a dream—from which Mr. Bevin would awake them.