Wairarapa Daily Times [Established Over 50 Years.] FRIDAY, 18th MARCH, 1932. BRITAIN’S PRESTIGE.

Wairarapa Daily Times, 18 March 1932, Page 4

Wairarapa Daily Times [Established Over 50 Years.] FRIDAY, 18th MARCH, 1932. BRITAIN’S PRESTIGE.

There is little doubt that a. year ago Britain’s prestige abroad had ebbed. The feeble handling by the Labour Government of certain foreign and Imperial issues, the apparent acceptance of wholesale unemployment, and the dole as an inevitable condition, the increased craving for sensation and amusement —a contributing factor to the decline of ancient Rome —were interpreted as symptoms of decay. Even such friendly observers as M. Andre Siegfried and M. Karel Capek could not refrain, from asking the question which many thoughtful Englishmen put to themselves. Had Britain, exhausted by her exertions in the war and by the long ' march of time, passed her zenith; was her star on the wane? The answer was supplied as suddenly and as emphatically as it was in August, 1914. Britain, realising that she was drifting to disaster, was equal to the emergency. The best elements in all - parties closed their ranks. A National Government appealed to the country to face stark realities. In the same way, Garibaldi offered his recruits not specious promises, not facile successes, but privation and travail. The call to the resolution of the British people met with an impressive response. The result of the election and the determination to grapple forthright with Britain’s difficulties which it evinced, demonstrated to the woklcl that ‘‘England. is England yet. ’’ At once English stock, which had been at a discount abroad, rose both literally and metaphorically. Nor was the effort which the occasion had summoned spasmodic and short-lived. It has endured. Continually anonymous gifts of

money and jewellery have been ’bestowed upon the Treasury for the amortisation of the national debt. Many citizens have anticipated the date upon which the payment of taxation is due —a gesture which to certain European countries habitually deaf to the tax-gatherer’s demands, is utterly incomprehensible.