VALUE OF DISCIPLINE

Nelson Evening Mail, Volume LXVI, 19 August 1933, Page 5

VALUE OF DISCIPLINE

DIVIDED BRITAIN NORTILSOUTH SPLIT r To illustrate what we want to say, ( two examples. The first is what hap- ■ pened the other day at the Derby, the L famous British horse race, and perhaps j the most famous race in the world. This ; i national event is held annually on the ■ no less famous course at Epsom, to the I south of London, says a London corrc|i spondent writing in the “New York j Times.’’ i The peculiar thing about the racej course is that it is situated on tile so- ■ I called downs, which arc common land. 1 According to the ancient law of this country a common belongs to the public and cannot be enclosed. The result of this has been every year that in the week preceding the Derby, Londoners in their thousands have come out on the glorious freedom of the downs. Tliev roamed all over the place, and even encamped there for the night. The grass on tne course, in consequence, was badly trampled upon in places, and the springy turf became iron-hard as if after the j passage of a steam roller. I This year the authorities had an in--1 spiratioii. They surrounded the track | with notices, in which the right of the | public to circulate freely was proclaimed, but an appeal was made to the sporting feeling of tlie people to preserve Hie grass for the horses. Thousands came out this year to the downs, but no one went beyond (lie line of notice boards, although there was not a single guard or policeman in sight. ’I he grass, on the day of the Derby, was like velvet. Our other example is the following: Members of the Stock Exchange received a copy of the letter addressed to * their chairman by Ihe Chancellor of the Exchequer. In that private coni- ; nmiiicatiou Air Neville Chamberlain 1 called attention to the fact that the ■ financial situation of the. country can- | not bo considered quite satisfactory yet. He warned against any attempt on a. large scale to organise the sale of foreign stocks in this country, and he expressed the hope that no member of the Stock Exchange would allow himself to be persuaded to become a party to such a transaction. This private circular, which is not backed by any administrative regulation, or by the menace of sanctions, has sufficed to make it practically impossible to organise at the present time the sale of large blocks of foreign stocks in London. No member of the Stock Exchange would dream of going against the Chancellor's appeal. SPIRIT OF' DISCIPLINE

We give these two examples, which go far to show the spirit of discipline existing in the nation. In these troubled times it is a real standby, and the foundation upon which national action can be easily built. Mass ptoduction in the material as well as in Iho spiritual sense lias many I’iiDVbacksf But in this case in the form of a conscious discipline of the masses it is a godsend to "Great Britain. In his letter to the chairman of the Stock Exchange, Mr Chamberlain insists that, in spite of many signs of improvement, the situation remains fraught with danger still. He especially warns not to take the influx of foreign money in the form of shortterm investments as a sign of a return to real prosperity. Mr Chamberlain does not want to see the increase in these mobile foreign, investments taken as a pretext for long-term British commitments abroad. In oilier words, as it lias done ever since the crisis in 1931, the Treasury wants to see the financial resources of Great Britain maintained in a liquid state, so that a recrudescence of the crisis should not come to us unawares.

It is true that tighter monetary conditions may happen not only as a result of a worsening of the crisis. Stabilisation of international currencies, whether finai, or merely temporary, may have the same effect, for in such a case London would cease to be as attractive as it is to-day to the . foreign capitalist searching for a safe investment. Still, the Chancellor's warning is timely to remind the people that the road to prosperity is not without obstacles and that setbacks have to be provided tor. British discipline will do the rest. . Disciplined action on a national scale is very necessary in Great Britain nowadays," for there are dangerous rocks ahead. To understand ths it is necessary lo try to look under the surlace of daily events to discover the mighty spiritual currents which are the real governors of the national life.

LONG STRUGGLE Here we come to the need of understanding the great struggle, which now is on between the North and the South in this country. It is not civil war, liecause there can be no bloodshed. But the present tug-of-war between. tlie British North and South is as gnm as any other form of civil strife, and the important point about it is that lt wil. outlast this generation,, projecting its shadow upon the political life of tlie counry. What is it ! , If, three years ago. we should have been asked to point out tlie dominating power in British politics, we v,ol ( . have named the city of London and the principles of world finance it s an ■> for This power had reached its P 1 naclo in 1925, when, so as to maintain the pound as an international cuiienc.y, it was stabilised at a high level ol gold P ‘After 1931, when the link of tlie pound with gold was broken, the autocratic power" of the city suffered a sharp decline. The North began to assert itself—the North, where the essential industries of Great Britain. ave concentrated, the North, which thinks m teirns of production, and not of discounted foreign bills . The golden sceptre ot the City was odious to the industrial North, because it is the symbol of a rule winch p e cm international finance to nation a - • The industrial producer had seen 1 is markets slip away. He accuse! City of handing them over to m foreign competitors. Unemployment l > heavy upon the depressed northern areas, where the workless maichti their thousands in procession, when tluv did not fill the street cornels. The South, concentrating around U « mighty urban agglomeration ol more prosperous London, tell the P UI of poverty less. Indeed it used the occasion ot hard times and cut P llc ■ attract to itself numberless secondniy industrial undertakings who weie forced to migrate from hte North sc as to be nearer to their richer clic s. The world crisis was the Nort.i s E l £ chance to ty to get its own back, the fight is oil. .... • , The North is protectionist ill P llll ' civile, and not merely for the sake ol > bargain; it is Imperialist and nationn ist; it is opposed to the ideas ol the London bankers, whom it accuses o

preferring flic foreign bill to tho bale of Manchester textiles. The fight is on. Its cause is economic, but inevitably it is being transferred to the plane of politics. This was seen the other day when members of the House of Commons, belonging to all parties, both 'Government and Opposition, joined in a strong protest lo the Government against the neglect which they alleged was being' shown to the depressed areas in the North. The City still holds up the banner of London as the financial centre of the world. But the North refuses the salute.

MUST BE REMEMBERED If this country were governed on the principle of the dictatorship this conJlict would 11H matter. But we are a democratic country, and we must have Parliamentary elections from time to time. For this reason, if for no other, the North, with its majority of voters, has a fighting chance agains the South. In any case for years ahead, when considering political developments in Great Britain, it shall be necessary to remember the existence of the great NorthSouth controversy. We predict, for example, that British policy towards Japan in the years to come will bo to a large extent dominated, not by the financial considerations of the City, but by the demands of the textile areas in the North. But British discipline is a guarantee that this essential conflict of interests shall not degenerate into an' indecent squabble by which foreign interests may profit.