NOTES AND COMMENTS

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXXV, Issue 23155, 29 September 1938, Page 12

NOTES AND COMMENTS

NATIONAL EXPENDITURE In the next session of the British Parliament there will be a definite movement for economy, says a special correspondent of the London Observer. Before the recess some murmurings of concern were heard at tlio great increase in national expenditure, and in the autumn tliev will be more clearly and emphatically expressed. This uneasiness is not confined to Westminster. Industrial leaders in the country no less than politicians foresee dangers in a succession of swollen Budgets. Nobody expects a repetition of the crisis of seven years ago, but there is misgiving lest the economic buoyancy of the nation should be impaired. In the minds of many members there also is another anxiety. With expenditure and taxation at its present level there is felt to bo little reserve on which to call in a fresh emergencv. BRITISH FOREIGN POLICY France knows that she is too weak to ensure her own safety, and for that reason she looks to us, says Dr. G. P. Gooch, the eminent historian, writing in the Contemporary Review. But we also look to lier. Our frontier, as Lord Baldwin declared, i,s on the Rhine. Never have Anglo-French relations been so intimate as since the civilised Weimar statesmen were displaced by tbc Nazis. We are tied to France by the doctrine of the Balance of Power, which has been the master-key to our policy for four centuries, and by our j common attachment .to free institui tions. Foreign visitors- constantly inj quire why the British Government j seems so unwilling to stand up to the truculent dictators. The answer, no doubt, is twofold. First, our armaments are not yet up to a major emergency. Secondly, public opinion is too deeply divided for the Government to take uninsurable risks. ALIEN STOCKS IN AUSTRALIA The white population of Australia is so largely British or Irish by descent that it is disquieting to think that it may not always be so. remarks the Spectator. But the present tendency is distinctly otherwise. Tn the year ended on June 30 last tbc combined figures show that there was a net loss of 652 migrants of British stock. On the other hand there was a net gain of 6769 aliens. The bulk of them came (rather unexpectedly) from the Italian and Balkan peninsulas—including 2896 Italians. 1078 Greeks, and 331 Albanians. The only category likely to cover exiled .Tews was that of the 571 Germans. A definite attempt is now on foot to increase month by month the flow of British immigrants. The Australians themselves prefer British, and the best inducement to Britons to emigrate is evidence that a Dominion wants them, but no doubt, economic forces favour immigrants with a lower standard of life. Hardworking Italian peasants make good settlers, and they are better able to stand the heat in latitudes like those of Queensland and Western Australia. TOYING WITH TYRANNY

" The individual," savs Herr Huber, the authorised exponent of Nazi law, "is not entitled to any liberties within the State; indeed, such liberties are irreconcilable with the principles of right based upon the nation. There does not exist any individual freedom which the State must respect; the individual has no rights apart from those related to his function as part of the State. The courts of justice," adds the same authority, "cannot be independent of the will of the leader, who is the supreme judge of the German people." It is scarcely an exaggeration to say, says Mr. J. A. Spender, in comment on the above, that the whole of English history has been the story of a stubborn and prolonged resistance to this doctrine. It is now stated in all the totalitarian States in a form which exceeds tho most servile expression of it in Tudor, Stuart or Restoration England. Germans and Russians must work out their own salvation. 1 am opposed to the idea of applying physical coercion to them. But I do not think the free nations need a "popular front" which by argument and reason will keep their own liberal doctrine constantly to the fore. An ancient philosopher warned vis to beware of the subtle and gradual methods by which democracies may be converted into tyrannies before they become aware of it. Among such methods is the toying with tyranny by clever intellectuals and advanced young men. We old Liberals must never leave them in possession of the field.

FAMILY ALLOWANCES "Is the British rnce doomed to extinction?" was the question posed bv Mr. R. F. Harrod, honorary secretary of the Royal Economic Society, in a recent address. Unless remedial measures were taken, Mr. Harrod said, fairly soon they might expect a rapid decline in the population, reducing Britain to the position of a second-rate Power. "The tendency to a declining birth-rate is manifesting itself in varying degrees in most parts of the world," he continued, "but wo British and a few other countries have a long lead, and unless there is a change of tendency we shall have diminished to small numbers while some nations are still greatly in excess of their present numbers. A still larger view suggests that the permanence of the human race itself is in danger. Remedies must lie partly in a change of outlook and partly in the provision of material assistance. The change of outlook must take the form of a greater interest in human progress and regard for posterity. Also from a psychological point of view there is much to be said against the small family as likely to engender neurosis owing to the over-concentrated parental affection. On the material side I propose family endowments on a generous scale. If every child had to be endowed the burden would be great, but there is much to he said for concentrating the endowment on the third, fourth and other children. By, this plan n moderate insurance levy on all adults would secure generous benefits during the period of child dependence. I am In favour of insurance rather than outright endowment schemes, first, because an endowment scheme, if generous enough to be effective, would bo an expensive burden on national finance; secondly, because it is important that the scheme should be graded according to the income groups to be effective."