THE NORTHERN ADVOCATE Registered for transmission through the Post aw a Newspaper MONDAY SEPTEMBER 1, 1947. British Commonwealth Conference

Northern Advocate, 1 September 1947, Page 4

THE NORTHERN ADVOCATE Registered for transmission through the Post aw a Newspaper MONDAY SEPTEMBER 1, 1947. British Commonwealth Conference

An unmistakable signal that the economic crisis in Britain is a matter of vital concern to the whole Commonwealth has been hoisted by the Home Government, which has invited the Dominions to attend a conference to be held in London this month. The acting Prime Minister, Mr Nash, announced last evening that the New Zealand Government has accepted an invitation to New Zealand to be represented at the conference, and is now considering the personnel of a delegation.

As the fate of each Dominion is wrapped up in the fate of Britain, and as everybody in each Dominion will be affected for good or ill by the front the Commonwealth is able to present, it is desirable that New Zealand’s delegation should be as representative as possible. This suggests that the Government, which, of course, must necessarily accept the obligations that occupation of the Treasury benches entails, would be well advised if it invited the Opposition to nominate a member or members for inclusion in the delegation. It cannot be said too often or too strongly that the people of the British Commonwealth are face to face with a trial which will demonstrate whether they possess the bulldog tenacity of those whose deeds made the Empire. There need be little doubt regarding this, but it is nevertheless imperative that the spirit of unity manifested by the organisations represented at the recent Aid for Britain conference should be implemented and intensified: hence the desirability of widely representative leadership. Whatever the decisions reached by the Commonwealth conference may

be, they must of necessity call for austerity on the part of British peoples until the Mother Country has regained economic stability. Austerity, of which the people of Britain have had more than a fair share in view of what they suffered to safeguard the Commonwealth during the war, will naturally not be welcomed, for instance, by New Zealanders, who have been enjoying comfort and prosperity on an unprecedented scale, but they will realise that if they are not prepared to forgo temporarily some things they have had in abundance they will lose them for all time if the economic Battle of Britain is not won with their assistance.

Sobering, indeed, is such a reflection, but the convening of a British Commonwealth Economic Conference should at the same time inspire belief that if British people in every land are true to themselves, the nation will win through. John Bull and Co. constitute a formidable combination, and though the firm may be hard pressed at the moment, the genius and fighting spirit of the race will ensure victory in a hard-fought fight if everybody shares the task.

The Commonwealth conference will doubtless aim not only at evolving a master plan for the dispersal of Britain’s economic crisis, but at co-ordinating the policies of various Dominions and harmonising them with the master plan. This is a matter which will call for skilful handling in order that the British Commonwealth’s co-op-erative effort to restore itself to economic health may be along lines that will encourage the American people to work for the rehabilitation of Britain, upon whose economic stability depends in great degree the future of the English-speaking world.