THE BEVERIDGE PLAN

Otago Daily Times, Issue 25090, 4 December 1942, Page 3

THE BEVERIDGE PLAN

SOCIAL CHANGES IN BRITAIN SUPPORT FROM PRESS RUGBY, Dec. 2. In its general principles the Beveridge Plan receives warm support from the British press. Though t' opportunity for considered judgme.i. on all aspects has not yet been possible, the press finds little to criticise in the chief proposals of the plan. The Times says: “The report is a momentous document which should, and must, exercise a profound and immediate influence on the direction of social change in Britain. Some modifications in detail may prove necessary or unavoidable, but the central proposals of the report must surely be accepted as the basis of Government action.”

The press emphasises the co-ordina-tion and centralisation of existing measures under a single Ministry of Social Security as one of the mam achievements of the report. The Daily Telegraph says: “The reforms amount not so much to a revolution as to the consummation ot the revolution begun by Mr Lloyd George in 1911.”

The 8.8. C. to-day began flooding Europe with summaries of the Beveridge Report showing how Britain, even amid the war, started to grapple with social problems. Sir William Beveridge is presented as “ the social engineer” and the man who made London the big centre of international social studies.

A member of the House of Commons, Mr E. L. Granville (Lib. Nat.), said the Beveridge scheme was tantamount to a social revolution, and the beginnings of the battle for a new Britain. “This must be our new charter for fighting men and war workers if we wish to keep faith with them when they return to normal life,” he said.

SCHEME FOR AUSTRALIA “AHEAD OF BEVERIDGE PLAN” (Rec, 1 a.m.) CANBERRA, Dec. 3. Australia has its equivalent of Britain's Beveridge plan for social security. It is stated to envisage a scale of benefits more generous than the British scheme and may cost the Government up to £60,000,000 a year. Some Ministers are reported to be opposed to waiting until after the war to put the plan into operation. “Wo should have a social charter as soon as possible that will give the people something to fight for.” a Minister today told the Sydney Sun political correspondent. The Government spokesman said today that the aim of the Australian scheme was to provide economic security from the cradle to the grave. He claimed that it was far ahead of the Beveridge plan. Its basis is reported to be the provision of: Maternity allowances, family allowances, health and unemployment assurance, fx - ee hospitals and medical attention irrespective of income, a living allowance on a family basis probably equal to the basic wage in times of unemployment, and retiring allowances.