The New Zealand Herald AUCKLAND MONDAY, NOVEMBER 13, 1944 RESURGENT FRANCE

New Zealand Herald, Volume 81, Issue 25049, 13 November 1944, Page 4

The New Zealand Herald AUCKLAND MONDAY, NOVEMBER 13, 1944 RESURGENT FRANCE

The resumption by France of her rightful place in world councils happily coincides with the visit to Paris of Mr Churchill and Mr Eden. The alacrity with which the British leaders accepted General de Gaulle's invitation and the enthusiasm of their reception by the Parisian populace hold out a firm prospect that the 40-year-old Entente is becoming co.rdiale once more. May it ever continue to be so! For Mr Churchill spoke truly when, on his arrival in Paris, he described the British alliance with France as "an indispensable and fundamental principle." Both parties, their perceptions quickened by painful experience since June, 1940, at present realise to the full the inter-depend-ence politically and militarily of the two countries. Franco owes her liberation to British staying-power. For her part, .Britain has felt the consequences of enemy occupation of the sea and air bases opposite the shores of England. Can either nation ever forget? Before answering confidently in the negative, each should remember the estrangement after the last war and the coolness that developed in the midst of the current one. Justifications and extenuations can be brought forward on both sides, but lose much of their force when confronted by an "indispensable and fundamental principle." It may be hoped that Mr Churchill's visit to Paris, first of the Allied leaders, means that in future Britain will defer to none in affirming and applying the principle, surely the first principle, of diplomacy for a nation anchored off the coast of Europe opposite France.

Recognition by the Allies of the part France should play in the new settlement of Europe was at first halting, but is now keeping pace with the realities of the situation. From the Dumbarton Oaks conference came the agreement that in due course France should become a permanent member of the world security council, the others being Britain, the United States, Soviet Russia, and China. Here was an acknowledgment that France was potentially a Great Power. The potential will become the actual as her strength is renewed and restored. The fact that rehabilitation, in spirit at least, had proceeded a long way, was marked last month by the transfer to French administration of most of liberated France. The Allied decision was a compliment to the manner in which the de Gaulle Government—formally recognised a few days later —was taking hold, and also an expression of confidence in its political competence in the domestic sphere. General de Gaulle was still not satisfied. He declared it was inconceivable that the occupation of Germany could be settled without France. He added that France desired to play a larger part militarily against Germany and politically in international affairs, especially in the solution of the German problem. In making these claims, he >vould be expressing the aspirations of the French people, sore about the debacle of 1940, and touchy at France's eclipse in world affairs. The invitation to join the European Advisory Commission that arrived in Paris with Mr Churchill concedes the point and restores French status. With it comes an American acknowledgment of France's vital interest in the treatment of Germany, and the part France will inevitably play in keeping the peace in Europe. Her pride mollified in the international sphere, France should now be more ready to put her own house in order. She is taking the place of Britain as the main base of the democracies for the final assault on Germany. Obviously a revitalised France could contribute materially to furnishing the base. The first essential is to get the country into working order, so that the Allies will be helped rather than hindered in the matter of supplies, transport, repair, facilities, and all the rest. So far as food goes, agriculture, the basic French industry, is found in good shape. The main difficulty is distribution. Food must be delivered from the farms to the hungry cities and towns, which are also short of fuel. The solution in both cases is transport. When found, it will solve many political difficulties. Recognising its importance, Britain is sending motor-lorries and canal barges to assist in distribution. Although there is endless work to do, France's other great problem is unemployment, a condition that neither she nor the Allies can afford to tolerate. If France has been left virtually intact agriculturally, she has been stripped industrially. The idle urban workers constitute a dangerous centre of unrest. Until industrial plant can be renewed, this labour should be mobilised on restoring French transport. The success with which de Gaulle's Government discharges practical tasks such as these, and the co-operation it wins from the French people, will provide a revealing test of its capacity and of the place France will fill in post-war Europe. BRITAIN'S MERCHANT NAVY Given reasonably fair competition against foreign ships operating under large subsidies and against those of countries with low standards of living, Britain does not doubt in the least her ability to resume her place in the van of peacetime merchant shipping. This confidence is inspired by several wartime facts laid before the House of Commons in a recent debate. In spite of fewer yards and shipwrights, in spite of intensive air attacks, and in spite of 55 per cent of shipbuilding being for naval work, nearly 4,500,000 tons of merchant ships were launched in the three years from 1910 to the end of 1943. In the four years 1914 to 1918, when there were more yards and men and practically no air attacks, the merchant shipping output was only 3,770,000 tons. Improved construction methods were largely responsible for this meritorious in*

crease. Much of the tonnage, of course, was represented by standard wartime building, but already Britain.is turning to more specialised vessels, such as the smaller types' required for the Mediterranean and some Continental ports and Far East coasters as well as fast cargo liners. With Government assistance a research council is being established to improve the technical perfection and working efficiency of British shins, which also includes the pay, accommodation and conditions of the crews to whose heroism tribute was paid in the debate. Avoiding the error of the immediate years after 1918, the wartime construction is not to be allowed to clog the operating and building industries. The debate emphasised that a merchant service superior to that of pre-war days is not merely a dream, but something to be realised in our time.

STATE HOUSING An aspect of the State housing policy not generally appreciated is that the taxpayers of the Dominion, which means everybody, are paying some of the rent of the tenants of the State houses. This financial assistance is also becoming so attractive that many people who in other days would have attended to their own housing needs now prefer to wait on the prospects of becoming a State tenant. These two points are made by the Associated Chambers of Commerce in a comprehensive report on housing prepared after a conference at which every influential group having a direct or indirect interest in the problem was represented. Very few outside a select circle know the real cost of State houses. Contract prices and the area in square feet of houses are quoted in reports and Government statements, but, as the conference mentions, these figures are incomplete. An independent analysis showing that the cost of State dwellings has increased by between 40 and 45 per cent since the inception of the scheme may be accepted as being very close to the mark. So also can the conference's estimate that it would cost a private person £IBOO to build the equivalent of a State house and that his weekly outgoings would mulct him in the sum of £2 3s 6d for rates, insurance and payment of interest and principal. Yet the average rent of a State house is under 30s a week. Cheap Reserve Bank credit is one cause of the difference, but it is not the only one. The Government will have to erect thousands more homes, it will need to meet the needs of the poorer section of the community rather than those of a favoured few who would be able to fend for themselves if some of the restrictions were lifted, and it will have to be more frank in its statements of costs before it can really boast of its housing policy.