BRITAIN'S CRISIS

Otago Daily Times, Issue 26709, 2 March 1948, Page 5

BRITAIN'S CRISIS

NEW SPIRIT REQUIRED PRESENTATION OF FACTS INSPIRATION BY COMMON ' TOUCH N.Z.P.A. Special Correspondent Rec. 8 p.m. LONDON, Mar. 1. There are two nations (in Britain) to-day, says the Economist. Those who realise the plight of the country and the looming catastrophe which threatens British economy,' and perhaps the British way of life, and those who still cherish the illusion of prosperity, a full wage packet and easy profit. In recent weeks, thanks largely to the frank realism of the Chancellor of the Exchequer. Sir Stafford Cripps, the gulf of understanding between the two has narrowed. But it must be reluctantly confessed even now that the majority of people arc still unable, or unwilling to form any conception of the economic—and ultimately political peril in which the country stands. It is disheartening, the journal continues, to see how quickly the lessons which the White Paper on personal incomes preaches have been lost in unprofitable bickering. It admits that there has been a great improvement in the publicity about economic affairs recently, but it adds, that it is still couched in terms utterly remote from the average man.

The steelworker, it suggests, is more interested in football pools than the White Paper on balance of payments, and the dockers do not read White Papers on personal incomes. What is needed is something which is honest, yet inspired by the common touch.

That demands, first, the most scrupulous demands for facts untinctured by political hopes or prejudices; secondly, the average man and woman must be shown what the facts mean in terms of food on their plates and clothes on their backs.

The Economist declares that the British people are capable even now of a courageous effort of self help though there are some obvious weak spots: lagging coal production, an under-manned cotton industry, while in spite of improvements in production by various industries, “ it is true to say of British industry to-day that it is working at- too low pressure for too few hours weekly.” Who, it asks, will have courage to lead a movement for a longer working week? and adds that some spokesman for the Government must evoke a new expansion spirit in production and effort. The alternative is growing frustration, which would soon be followed by collapse.