A CHANGED ENGLAND.

Wanganui Herald, Volume LI, Issue 15192, 12 April 1917, Page 5

A CHANGED ENGLAND.

WHAT THE WAR HAS DONE SOCIAL AND INDUSTRIAL REFORM. Army officers visiting England after facing the perils and enduring the handships encountered at the fror.t generally complain that in England the people do not seem to realise that there is a war on. London, in particular, seems to them to have been bwt little changed. The streets are thronged, the fashionable restaurants are crowded, and the theatres are filled with pleas-ure-eeeking patrons. But for the gaiety which prevails in the West End army officers themselves are largely responsible, says the London Daily Telegraph. A large percentage of patrons of the theatres and highclass restaurants are officers on leave, and their relatives and friends. It is true that as the war is not being waged on English soil the bulk of the people of England are not in a state of anxiety in regard to ite progress. Tlie war does not hang over them like a cloud. Bnt to anyone who goes beneath the surface ample evidence is to be found of ways in which the war has affected English life, and has ushered in great changes, some of which will continue during future generations. Some of the immediate effects of the war are to be found in the thousands of homes in which there is grief for young lives sacrificed in the cause of country, in the thousands of middleclass homes which have been bxoken tip through the bread-winners having been caLled to the colours; but the war has brought about other changes which have made a deeper mark on English life than private griefs and dismantled homes. ADVENT OP STATE SOCIALISM. It has ushered in State Socialism to an extent that seemed impossible of achievement, in a country like England, where class rule has always been in the ascendant. Sine© the war began the State has taken over the control of railways, coal mines, ships, distilleries, sugar and wheat. It is about to undertake the moboli&ation of civilian labour { in order to concentrate the energies of the nation on the extension of industries that are nationally essential in war time. Industries that are not essential, and especially the industries engaged in producing luxuries will be closed down. Already the State has taken over thousands of factories which are engaged in producing war materials, ard it has built hundreds of new factories. It has placed severe restrictions on the manufacture and sale of alcoholic liquors. The liquor trade, which before the war was so powerful, is now trembling at the possibility of prohibition being introduced. In many centres where munition workers are employed the hotels have been taken over by the State. ENCOURAGING AGRICULTURE. In agriculture thf- State is entering on a policy of protection and encouragement, which should make the bygone leaders of the free-trade movement turn* in their graves. Waste lauds, of which there are estimated to be 17,000,000 ares, are to be brought' under cultivation, so as to grow food for the nation. In order to encourage farmers to grow wheat they are to be guaranteed a fixed price of 60s per quarter for next season's crop. The rate for the following season will also be fixed. In peace times English farmers would have been content with a guaranteed price of 40s per quarter, but because ,it was at the mercy of the fluctuations of the world's warkets English farming lias degenerated under free trade, and it seldom paid to grow wheat. It was far safer ix> put the land under grass, and grow hay to feed stock for the butcher. This has been going on for many years, and in all farming leases—and nearly all the English farmers hold their land on lease—the farmers are expressly forbidden to plough up grass lands forming part of their farms. But the Government is introducing a bill to make this provision void, as a step towards encouraging the farmers to grow wheat instead of grass. CHANGES IN ENGLISH LIFE, In the industrial world there are signs of a new order of things which will last after the war is over. There are indications that in many industri-as employers and employees have begun to realise that the interests of capital and labour are largely identical, Instead of being entirely opposed to one another. The incentive to production which the war has given has shown employers that it pays to give high wages in order to induce their workmen to increase their output. The former policy of low wages, which was answered by the workers with restricted output, seems to be disappearing, in addition,eniployexs and workers aw co-operating through their organisations with the object of paving the way for the absorption of labour into the industries of the country when the armies are disbanded and the soldiers return to civil employment. The employment of hundreds of thousands of women to replace men caited to the colours is another of the war changes in England. In some industries iwhich were previously closed to women it has been found that woman workers soon became more skilful than, men, and are capable of a larger output. As the war goes on there will be further changes in English life, and the further the progress from the conditions which prevailed before the war the less probability there will be of return to them after the war is over. The conditions brought about by tlie war will not continue without modification after peace is established, but with all these modifications tfte changed conditions of life in England which emerges from the war iwill represent greater progress along th« jJaths of social and industrial reform than would have been accomplished in half a century of peace.