SPIRIT OF ENGLAND

Evening Post, Volume CXL, Issue 148, 20 December 1945, Page 9

SPIRIT OF ENGLAND

MR. P. M. BUTLER IMPRESSED

Mr. P. M. Butler, who attended the London meeting of the World Federation of Trade Unions and the conference in Paris of the International Labour Office as one of the New Zealand workers' delegates, and who flew from England, arrived in Wellington from Auckland yesterday. The other workers' representative, Mr. R. Stanley, and the employers' representative, Mr. V. Duff, are coming by sea, and are due about January 5.

One of the things which struck him was the way in which the people of England, though they were short themselves, went without to send foodstuffs to Holland, said Mr. Butler. Holland was suffering more than other war-devastated countries in Europe because of the vast inundations by salt water, of which it would take many years to get rid.

While waiting for transport home. Mr. Butler undertook a tour organised by the Ministry of Information, and addressed 27 meetings in England, Scotland, and Wales. He spoke on life and conditions in New Zealand to various sections of the community, including factory employers' organisations, trade unions, and the general public, at Birmingham, Manchester, Liverpool, Leeds, Bradford, Glasgow, Edinburgh, Newcastle on Tyne, Cardiff, and Port Talbot. The Ministry of Information was an efficient organisation and allowed him little spare time, he remarked, the 27 meetings being all between November 16 and December 8. It was a pity that the Ministry of Information was being disbanded, for it had brought to people in England sneakers on valuable subjects whom they would not otherwise have heard.

He had found the people of Britain really wonderful after six years of war, through which they had come magnificently. To meet and talk to them was to realise why the Germans had found their morale indestructible. "I talked with them at meetings, and met them in pubs, and the heart of the people is marvellous." he said. "Under the present difficulties they are cheery, and have a great air of expectancy. There is very little unemployment, and the change from war industry to peace industry is working very smoothly." Prominence was given by some newspapers to shortages, but the position was not so very acute, the chief lacks being meat and fats. Queues appeared to be decreasing when he left England. New Zealand was highly spoken of by people of all political opinions and the Kiwi Rugby team was most popular. Every ticket for their match with Cardiff was sold when he left.