AFTER THE WAR

Auckland Star, Volume LXXIII, Issue 124, 28 May 1942, Page 5

AFTER THE WAR

RESHAPING OF WORLD ECONOMIC SECURITY (0.C.) WELLINGTON, this day. Economic reshaping of the world was its only hope of new political stability, said the Rt. Rev. H. St. Barbe Holland, Bishop of Wellington, in addressing the annual meeting of the Wellington branch of the League of Nations Union. He expressed the opinion that collective control had come to stay for many years, that for the good of the community mu.ch economic liberty would be forgone, that the post-war world as a whole would probably be classless, and that rationing might continue as a utilitarian measure for the health of the world.

"Even if victory is taken for granted, it is impossible to foresee the physical, moral and spiritual conditions of the conquerers and the conquered," said Bishop Holland. "Some people imagine that as soon as the war ends the nations are going to stop their engines, get out of their cars and confer as to which road to take. We can take it as quite certain that when the end does come things will happen at an enormous speed. Victorious nations will have to take steps to deal with things as they are. In some sense, the shape of things to come will be decided by decisive events after the war within both the victorious and the beaten nations. People are not going to wait for the architects of a new universe. to shape their destinies. They are going to put up their own shanties and whares, for thev will have to get on with the job of living and put a roof over their heads. I only say this to emphasise the difficulties, and not to discourage the attempt to foresee. I have three definite points.

A Different Approach "The first is that our approach after the war must be different to that of 1919. Then the political re-, shaping of the world was the main" objective, but now, as bitter experience has taught us, economic reshaping is our only hope of stability in political reshaping. In the old order political freedom was assured, but economic liberty and license prevented the benefits of political liberty being enjoyed by those who had no economic security. We saw the dread-

ful spectre all over the world of people being unemployed, and it is clear now that this expression of economic insecurity was one main cause of the war. War preparation solved the unemployment problem in Germany.

"This drives us to the conclusion that economic security within the nation and economic security for nations in their relationship with one another, is the one great indivisible problem that must hold the stage after the war, and I believe that steps should be taken to deal with both at once.

"There will be many scrambled eggs that cannot be unscrambled. Collective control has come to stay for many years. For the good of the community much individual economic liberty must be foregone. Security and laissez-faire are incompatible. This is a revolution which has begun and must probably be allowed to work out its own results. The post-war world as a whole will probably be classless—it has been said that after the war will come the century of the common man—with no special awards or privileges to wealth or birth. There will have to be central control of the world's raw materials and distribution according to the needs of each nation. There will be a continuance of Ministries of Supply. Rationing will continue for the health of the world, and from the mere point of utilitarianism may become part of the life of the healthy man. There will be a raising of the level of nutrition throughout the world. Russian economy will have to be considered. This must mean a temporary adjustment of international economic relationships."

Need for Faith Bishop Holland r said there must grow up a sufficient body of people among the different nations, overpowered by their faith that the world could be made beautiful, orderly and peaceful. They would have a passion to understand one another and to keep the common law and make the existence of that law effectual everywhere. That could only be if faith was centred not in man but in God.