Greymouth Evening Star. MONDAY MARCH 15, 1948. Western Union

Greymouth Evening Star, 15 March 1948, Page 4

Greymouth Evening Star. MONDAY MARCH 15, 1948. Western Union

THE most important, international even. A 1 since the Communist coup in 10 Slovakia is the announcement that a tiea ; embodying the principle ot Ves pean union has been concluded between Britain, France and the Benelux Powers —Belgium, the Netherlands andl Ltix.era burg. This means that the unioi - ment, which was given im s r ‘B ev j n portant foreign policy s P® ec . h n J i„ une hed last month, has been officially la inchec • How soon this movement can mature and how far it will go are ™ att^ s fimTa lation Europe has tried before to find a larger unity, and failed. Such unions are noTso easy Vo achieve on a sound and solid basis as they are to P oslulat ’ 1 n ‘ ecec . participation, for instance, must neces sarily ptit strains on her commercial and I cultural ties with the Dornin ions and Colonies. But on this occasion there is a stronger and more powerful force than has hitherto existed. ,1 he natio». of Europe which remain free must unite or face destruction by the Communist C °aTtljc Times, London, remarks the official Soviet reaction to the Brussels rea \ is to write it off as “a plot against peace and against the democratic increment i Europe.” If this is a convoluted way of saying that Britain, France, and the Benelux countries intend directing t s against Communism and the tactics - iowed in Prague, then Russia is right. Events have moved swiftly in Europe in recent weeks, widening and deepening the o-ap between East and West r l o the Eas ~ the Soviet Union, aided by Communi. t • nt «o called “Communist minorities ot the so-camu . • bloc,” has consolidated its control oaoi this vast and thickly-populated ««*« and Central Europe, and added Uit Czechoslovakia by the recent, coup <’etat. What, is to stop a further advance ol the system west, towards the Atlantic engnlfin- in this way all Europe? Nothing but a similar organisation of Western Europe, backed fiv the moral and economic strength of the New World. The Soviet has aelneved a lono- lead in the organisation of the area under its control. It is clear that only wise statesmanship and the acceleration of the recoverv and consolidation programme can save democracy in Western Europe.

World Food Problem IN the satisfied somnolence that undoubtL edly results from the consumption oi aood food in this country there may be a disinclination to listen to harsh facts about food. Yet Sir John Boyd Orr, director of the United Nations Food and Agricultural Organisation, who predicts “direst calamities” unless the. world doubles its output of food in the next. 25 years should know what ho is talking- about Re™ the manifold services ol b.A.0., bn Joh points out the. need for “euergetic collaboration” in the related fields of agrieultuud development and industrial production. On the lowest level, the inter-relation is obvious, since the industrial under-nourished workers is clearly bou ] o decline. On a higher governmental level, the complexities of the politica pioblem involved are readily understam i • New Zealand’s immediate concern is with feeding Britain. Britain is actually producing more food today than ever before. and yet she may be forced m the present year to lower the level of diet dangerously bv 200 calories a day. Jhe reason & that'she has not the dollars to pay for needed foods like bacon eggs ar d srrgar, for which she must go to the dollar ai <. She requires all the food of the type whwh New Zealand sends her—and moie b the real ration pinch this year will come in relation to these lines which are aval - able in sufficient quantities only from dollarT"dSproblem so far as Britain is concerned is one not only ol popping «P Empire production hut also of f channels of trade. While m many countries workers need food and termers need fertiliser and machinery, it is (Wil , to see how the “energetic collaboration for which Sir John Boyd Orr wife b.carried on effectively except at United Nations level. .