POST-WAR RECOVERY

Otago Daily Times, Issue 25466, 22 February 1944, Page 2

POST-WAR RECOVERY

Dean Inge long ago had the sobriquet of “the gloomy dean” bestowed on him because of his dismal vaticinations. A recent utterance, of which the gist was cabled, supplies some justification for this appellation, for he prophesies that “ we shall not and cannot recover from this war.” His belief is that the greatness and the wealth of England were but an episodic phase in the history of the British people, and that England will now gradually slide back into the pre-indus-trial condition of the eighteenth century, with a population of half its present number, mainly consisting of agriculturists and tradesmen. t Dean Inge is a man of fine scholarship and unusual intellectual acumen, but when he essays the role of prophet he is entering into a region where scholarship and intellect are no guarantee of sound conclusions. The deism of England has often been proclaimed, but she still flourishes fair and free. When the Norman conquest occurred it looked as if England was to be merely a permanent appanage of a foreign potentate. But the reverse of this came to pass; for it was the King of England who became King of Great Britain and France. Later, when the power of Spain was at its height, it again looked as if a foreign ruler would hold the northern island in fee as part of his great empire. But the destruction of the Armada in the spacious times of great Elizabeth shattered that bold enterprise. A century later, when the Merry Monarch, Charles 11, had sold England secretly into the vassalage of France, it again looked as if Louis Quatorze would sway the troublesome little island

across the Channel. But the victories of Marlborough, the ancestor of Mr Churchill, v made England the paramount Power in Europe. Later the baleful star of Napoleon rose upon an affrighted world, and Great Britain again was supposed to be near destruction—and she had just previously lost the American colonies. Her greatness seemed in danger of final eclipse. But once more she rose superior to disaster abroad and unrest at home, and entered on that brilliant period —the Victorian era—which will remain for ever one of the seasons outstanding in human achievement. Then came the Great War. Great Britain was, of course, “ done ” once more—according to the Kaiser and his satellites—but she emerged from the struggle not only victorious, but universally respected. And now the second great war has come, and the gloomy prophecy again goes forth, “England is done, and will become a comparatively uninfluential nation of farmers and shopkeepers.” Surely the Dean must have suffered a temporary obfuscation of his usual perspicacity. He might have recalled that there is in England a body of skilled craftsmen, of first-rate scientific investigators and technicians-, a wealth of business ability and experience tested all over the world, and a spirit of adventure which cannot be paralleled elsewhere for quality. Further, it may surely be expected that this war will open up markets greater than have yet been known. The millions of China are awakening, and they will have need of the products of industrial countries. America, of course, will benefit by this; but it may be taken for certain that British enterprise, brains, and money will be active. Russia, too, will have new needs leading to a reciprocity of commerce greater than ever before. And Japan, once the war is over, is bound once again to become not only a supplier, but also a good customer. Indeed, it would be possible to frame a reasonable prophecy that England’s chances of grandeur and prosperity are great—perhaps as great as they have ever been. And, best of all, she is looked upon, even by her enemies, with envy and respect as a land where a man may speak the thing he will, and where > justice and fair dealing are held in lofty esteem,