POST-WAR PERIOD

Otago Daily Times, Issue 25135, 28 January 1943, Page 5

POST-WAR PERIOD

IMPROVEMENT OF CONDITIONS IMPORTANT QUESTIONS RAISED (N.Z.P.A. Special Correspondent) LONDON, Jan. 25. Britain, has undergone a change of thought in many directions since the early days of the war. Each month brings forth new ideas and comments. Speaking generally, it can be said that the broad mass of the working people are concerned about the post-war future. To-day,” observes The Times, large numbers serving with the armed forces or toiling in the war factories are preoccupied by the gnawing fear of a return to mass unemployment after the war.”

Among several reasons why the Beveridge Plan has been so widely welcomed is that one of his three assumptions on which social security is based is “ the maintenance of employment, that is to say, the avoidance of mass unemployment.” Sir William Beveridge’s comments on this provide hope and food for thought for hungry minds. But the working men have not got all the worry regarding the future. It is equally shared by industrialists, businessmen, and farmers. It is obvious to all that for Britain to remain prosperous she must regain the markets which she has lost during the war, and re-establish her export trade. The question is, how? To what extent shall the Government and private enterprise participate? Many of Britain’s business leaders have delivered themselves of weighty opinions—the Federation of British Industries, the Associated Chambers of Commerce, the London Chamber of Commerce—but none of their views is universally applauded.

A typical criticism is the Manchester Guardian’s: “ So far as one can pierce the verbiage, their ends do not see beyond the remedies of possible public works, lower taxes, and mysterious methods of equating consumption with production, usually through some vague form of currency manipulation. But all demand that industry—business organised into tight, monopolistic trade associations—should be brought in by the Government to see that the Government does not interfere too much.”

There is varied comment regarding the place of private and State enterprise. The Times sums up views which are widely held by saying: “Broadly speaking, the point at which State enterprise must step in to supplement and control private enterprise is the point at which private enterprise becomes enmeshed in policies which, in fact, though not always in name or intention, are restrictive.”