UNITY OF POWERS

Manawatu Standard, Volume LXV, Issue 225, 22 August 1945, Page 5

UNITY OF POWERS

BASIS OF POLICY. ECONOMIC WORK FIRST. (N Z Press Association.— Copyright.) (Rec! 10.15 a.m.) RUGBY, Aug. 21. There is general endorsement in the national Press of the mam lines of Mr Bevin's foreign policy speech. The Times stresses the fact that Mr Bevin declared that the basis of the Government's policy was in keeping with that worked out by the Coalition, resting principally on co-operation by the three Groat Powers who had been the main artificers of victory. It endorses Mr 'Bevin's argument that economic reconstruction must precede attempts to restore political systems to their normal working order, and considers that this is nowhere more important than in Germany. The paper questions whether sufficient authority has been given to the Control Commission and its organs to secure execution of its decisions, and whether sufficiently concrete plans have been framed for economic control and reconstruction in Germany.

Almost all the newspapers give considerable space in their 'leaders to the Foreign' Secretarv's references to South-Eastern Europe. The Daily flerald savs: "His forthright denunciation of' the Governments of Hungary Bulgaria and Rumania shows the' 'world precisely where Britain henceforth stands. Many unwelcome things may indeed happen in Europe during the birth nangs of reconstruction, but knowledge now exists that this country is now back on its honourable basis of democratic principles, that 'plaving ball' with the so-called 'right people' in other lands is over, that our future will lean inexorably on the side of freedom and justice for ordinary people everywhere." SPANISH AFFAIRS. 1 The Daily Telecrnnh says: "The one country in the Balkan peninsula vol winch we are directly responsible, Greece is the only one where the people have been offerd a real choice of Government and Constitution. As for Spain and the bitter cry from the outer Left that the British Government should take action against General Franco's regime, Mr Bevin has answered with devastating commonsense. He is, like every former Foreign Secretary, satisfied that _ intervention bv a foreign Power in the internal affairs of Spain would have the opposite effect to that desired. This must have sounded to Mr Eden like an echo of one of his own statements from ]0 years back." The News-Chronicle remarks that Mr Bevin voiced an opinion generally held in this country when he said that the Poles would be laying up trouble for themselves if their new frontiers were fixed too far to the west. It adds: "The speech as a _ whole makes an important contribution to our outlook on foreign affairs. This is because Mr Rcvin stressed what is, in fact, fundamental—the economic unitv of the post-war world. His appointment to the Foreign Office symbolises the fact that 'diplomacy' as it was once understood is dead. From now onward foreign policy, if it » to serve the common ends of humanity must imply an integration ol economic capacities and requirements side bv side with the pursuit of a political order conforming to the world's needs." MAINTENANCE OF UNITY.

The Manchester Guardian considers that "everything rests on the Allies' maintaining the magnificent unity with which they have won the war, but that this unity must not be based on "unreal compromises and sham arrangements. Frankness of speech is called for again. There is a new spirit entering the international language. Messrs Churchill, Eden and Bevin have all breathed it. The American reference to Bulgaria is another sign. It springs from a belief that we must face our difficulties openly and boldly. "If Russia has not been ablo so far to see eye to eye with us on some questions, we will still not get anywhere with her unless she understands where the possibilities of divergence lie and- how strongly the British and American peoples feel,"

the paper says. It adds: "Mr Bevin's broad sweep concluded with some temperate words about the Far East. The _ occasion might have justified a passing word about our political intentions in our liberated territories. It was hardly enough to refer only to the return of Hong Kong and the restoration of British interests. Still, it was only a beginning, and Mr Bevin has amply shown that he has the courage and principle his office needs."