Current Criticism Of Socialist Britain Said To Be Unfair

Wanganui Chronicle, 18 August 1949, Page 5

Current Criticism Of Socialist Britain Said To Be Unfair

LONDON, Aug. 17 (Recd. 6pm).— In a despatch to his paper the London correspondent of the New York “Times,” Clifton Daniel, says some of the best informed foreign observers disagree with much of the current American criticism of British economic policy. These observers consider unfair to place the whole burden*"of blame for Britain’s present plight upon the Labour Government and upon British industrialists and workers. They contend that criticism of British Socialist policies is largely irrelevant to the main issue, which is to achieve a trade balance between the sterling and dollar areas. The preponderance of expert opinion, according to Daniel,

holds that the dollar crisis could not have been averted by a change in Britain’s internal policy. "Insofar as increased social services of the Labour Government are an addition to Britain’s tax burden, they may be hampering economic recovery,” says Daniel. “Otherwise foreign observers find it difficult to prove that the cost of social services, nationalisation of basic industries and other Labour Government measures have had a discernible effect upon Britain’s external trade problems. What they do know is that by nearly all indices Britain’s recovery effort compares most favourably with those of other European countries.”—N.Z.P.A. Special Correspondent.