ENGLAND IN 1950

Evening Star, Issue 22526, 19 December 1936, Page 22

ENGLAND IN 1950

POLITICIAN LOOKS AHEAD Mr Duncan Sandys, M.P. for Norwood, put forward a fanciful vision of future events when ho addressed the 1912 Club on ‘ British Politics During the Period 1936-1950,’ in London recently, says the ‘ Daily Telegraph.’ He asked his audience to imagine that he was living in the year 1950, and was looking back over the developments of the previous 15 years. “ lu the election of 1941,” he said, “ the supporters of the National Government, with the exception of some dissentients among the reactionaries who were more than made up for by the new recruits from the Labour and trade union camps, merged themselves into a single political party.” The social reform envisaged by Mr Sandys between 1936 and 1950 included a national campaign to raise the standard of health, feeding, clothing, and general physical fitness, and to increase the birthrate. “ The efforts of the new Progressive Government,” he said, “ had reduce'd the hours of work, by stages, to six a day. It had_ been found that the arbitrary reductions of hours with a corresponding reduction of wages was economically impossible. The only method, therefore, to reduce hours had been to increase the output of work per man.” _ This had been achieved by subsidisation of all firms which introduced approved labour-saving machinery, and discover new labour-saving inventions. “ In the field of Imperial politics,” he continued, “ the most important single event during the period was the creation of the Empire Industrial Development Board. Closer co-operation in foreign affairs and defence policy had been achieved by a series of agreements concluded with the dominions.” Further “ prophecies ” of Mr Sandys were the withdrawal of Britain from Europeon politics, the emergence of the League of Nations as a purely moral force, a religious revival, peace in Europe due to the unknown potentialities of scientific warfare, and an AngloAmerican alliance.