CHALLENGE OF TARGET

Te Awamutu Courier, Volume 75, Issue 6441, 3 November 1947, Page 7

CHALLENGE OF TARGET

BRITAIN’S ECONOMIC SITUATION I CRIPPS’ STATEMENT RECEIVED WITH RELIEF (By Guy Eden, Well-known British Political Correspondent) The people .of Britain, like all people who have to fight for their livings in the commercial and industrial markets of the world—as well as, from time to time, in the even sterner fields of warfare—always want to know precisely what objective their leaders are setting them. It is for that reason that the statement made by Sir Stafford Cripps, • Britain’s Minister in charge of trade, ! about the drive for export markets I has been received with something ■ like relief in Britain. The demands : made in the plan are, in truth, j enough to appal any country.' They : set a target which might well be re- • garded as hopelessly distant and difi ficult of achievement. They make calls on Britain’s depleted resources - and manpower which even an optimist might regard as inaccessible. Yet it is true to say that they have not caused .depression in Britain. The people of Britain are, above all, realists, and it is not to be thought that they fail to apprehend the toil and trouble that lie before them. They ! have had too much experience of the realities of life—in the two World Wars, if in no other way—to need any reminder that everything worth while has to be fought for. • - No Depression And yet, I repeat, the grim prospect set before Britain by Sir Stafford Cripps has not depressed the nation. Sir Stafford himself desscribed the programme for the building up of exports as a challenge to the courage and tenacity of the people of Britain—and as such it has been accepted. As in World War II the people of Britain have wanted to know the ■ worst, to know exactly what was ex- ; pected of them. Mr Churchill, as i leader of the wartime Government, i always worked on the principle that ; that the people would do anything, ! go through any peril or trial, provid- ' ed they knew’ what was expected of ' them. What they would not tolerate j was any concealment ,of the grim ' facts, and foolishly exaggerated op- ! timism. The present Government in White- ■ hall is, wisely, as I think, working on the same principle. Sir Stafford Cripps, speaking with the full authority of the Cabinet of which he is a leading member, gave the nation as stark a recital of the economic position as any it has ever had. He took the parallel of a private individual. Faced with the fact that he is living beyond his means, he had to decide whether to cut down his demands from others, whether to bori row, or whether to earn more. Bri- , tain has done both of the first two, i and now it remains to earn more, so , that, in due time, more may be bought from others. | Nobody pretends that this is an I easy task. By sheer determination j and grit, the manufacturers of Bri- . tain may bp able to turn out more • goods. Even with the severe short- ; age of raw materials, they may make goods of the highest standard. Prices j may bo highly competitive. I But there will still remain the task | of selling the goods in the overseas i markets. The British people know I full well that there are many other ' nations competing for bigger mar- ; kets, and that they will have to win ' every advantage at which they aim. They know that the building up of .■ export markets will mean still fur--1 ther cuts in their own meagre home i supplies. And it must never be forgotten that the cuts in supplies come on top of “austerities” already more i severe than those of any nation in the world. But they also know that—as Sir , Stafford Cripps put it—unless they ; are able to build up the overseas markets, all else is of little importance, and that the standard of living must permanently be depressed. It is fully realised, therefore, that the industrial future of Britain is the key to the social future, and that i most things for which the nation has | striven are dependent on the attaini ment of the export targets. The fact that the sale of goods in export markets is so complex a pro- | cess means, inevitably, that almost i everybody in the land—from the i management to the humblest worker i in a factory—has personal responsi- . bility in the export drive. t It would not be a true statement to say that this is fully/realised by all 'in Britain, and there are still elei meats which are inclined to put pres- ; sure on employers, and through them jon the nation, for any new concesi sions in working hours or pay. The ■ occasional stoppages of work in Brii tain’s vital industries may puzzle ob- ■ servers outside the country—as, ■ truth to tell, they puzzle many ini side Britain —but they are part of ' the democracy of the land. Even in the midst of crisis, even in the midst of war, the rights of the individual are held dear —but there comes a time when public Opinion is against the arbitrary exercise of these rights, and then they are voluntarily -abrogated. Feeling of Urgency In my view, as the gravity of Britain’s economic situation becomes clear to all in the land, the feeling of urgency that swept Britain in the war years will reassert itself, and strikes will be a rarity. For, as Sir Stafford Cripps made clear, all depends on a recovery in trade. By the end of 1948, we have to sell 160 tons of goods, where, in 1938, we sold 100 tons. And since it is impossible to have a prosperous world if any one great nation is poor, not only the people of Britain, but those of the whole world; must hope for the success of the British export drive. As in politics, there is no room, in the modern world, for a narrow national outlook in matters of trade. In many ways, all thinking men and women now recognise, the wEole world as interdependent. The whole world, therefore, as I

have said before, must watch with sympathetic interest th 6 efforts of the British people to win their way back to economic stability. It will be a long and hard road, and it will call for all the determination and courage of which the British people are capable.