THE OTAGO DAILY TIMES SATURDAY, December 14, 1940. REBUILDING ENGLAND

Otago Daily Times, Issue 24481, 14 December 1940, Page 10

THE OTAGO DAILY TIMES SATURDAY, December 14, 1940. REBUILDING ENGLAND

With that firm resolution which has characterised its facing up to the extraordinary and complex problems of total war, the British Government has brought down a Bill making provision for insurance against the damage caused by enemy action. Three years prior to the war’s commencement, the Government of. the day had somewhat summarily rejected a proposal that an insurance scheme could be devised to cover war risks on land. The Weir Report, published after hostilities commenced but before England had suffered any particular damage, expressed the conclusion that risks were so high as to make them non-insurable. Yet, as was pointed out in some quarters at that time, such considerations had not prevented the operation of insurance schemes covering marine war risks and commodity stocks. The urge of necessity was the over-riding factor in this case because the owners of ships and of commodity stocks could not carry on business without replacement of losses. It required, then, the sorry impetus of severe destruction over England of properties that in other wars have been relatively free from enemy attention to persuade the orthodox that emergencies must be met by extraordinary means. Last September Mr Churchill announced that the Government .would reconsider the problem “in the light of the facts as they are to-day.” Those facts do not require to be recapitulated. Under a ruthless policy of broadcast bombing, the Luftwaffe has made mere barbaric destructiveness an aim of warfare. Though the proportional loss is not terrific, thousands of buildings and homes in England are being razed by the raiders. Payment after the war, which is the basis of the compensation scheme, provides no present relief to those whose houses, offices, or factories are damaged or destroyed. The problem is more immediate, and it is recognised in the compulsory insurance proposals now evolved, which will give protection to property-owners, including the smallest, and will also cover movable assets of business, and even allow for the voluntary insurance of personal chattels. It is a measure involving astronomical sums. But it will be welcomed in Great Britain by all classes. However great the catastrophe, the assurance that it cannot destroy the Englishman’s treasured security of hearth and home is one which he will value deeply. Recently Mr J. M. Keynes was able to declare that the property destruction in England had not exceeded the potential rate of construction. “We have the capacity,” he declared, “ to replace what has been lost by something much better.” The insurance proposals offer to the British people the promise that their losses are but temporary, and affirm the deep continuity, of English life. Not too soon, with old London still, crashing about them, are the builders and architects planning for the future and better London that will be raised from the rubble.