Bay of Plenty Beacon Published Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays. FRIDAY, AUGUST 1, 1947 GRIM OUTLOOK IN BRITAIN

Bay of Plenty Beacon, Volume 11, Issue 61, 1 August 1947, Page 4

Bay of Plenty Beacon Published Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays. FRIDAY, AUGUST 1, 1947 GRIM OUTLOOK IN BRITAIN

THE seriousness of Britain’s impending financial crisis was brought home by Mr Bevin in his address to the Durham miners during the weekend. He told them what measures might'be necessary to help the country out of its present difficulties. At least one of the measures proposed is likely to have a serious effect on the economy of New Zealand. Mr Bevin did not mince matters and told his hearers, and incidentally the people of England, what Cabinet had in mind. Four drastic steps, he indicated, were being considered. The first, which is of greatest moment to the British Commonwealth as a whole, is a heavy reduction in food imports, including practically all imported meat. The effect of this on both dairying and meat industries in this country will be farreaching. The second, which is a direct result of the first, and which will impose still greater hardships on an already sorely tried population, is a reduction of rations below the level in,force at the height of the war. This will be a bitter blow to a people that has already suffered so much. The second and third will affect wealthier people only. They are the banning of motoring purely for pleasure, and the prohibition of foreign travel except for business. At a time like this, when, as Sir Clive Baillieu has pointed out, it is necessary to curtail expenditure on such vital needs as housing, schools and hospitals, only the most selfish could expect to indulge in such personal pleasures. Sir Stafford Cripps, summed up the situation a week ago with this grave warning: “We have neither time nor resources to spare. The situation is as urgent for our future as was the period before D-Day. Everyone can contribute to our success by their effort, or to our failure by their lack of effort. The battle of the balance of payments is on, and our indepndent economic survival ?.z a great power is at stake. The courage and determination of a great constructive effort by the entire nation is needed today. We should be neither optimists nor pessimists but realists facing up to the gravity of our task, and using for its accomplishment those qualities that have made our country great in times of peace and war alike. Our democracy, economic and political, is on trial before the eyes of the world. Our failure would mean its collapse, our success would immeasurably strengthen all that we believe to be right and hold dear in our civilisation. Seldom in the history of the world has a greater call come to any nation, a call for courage and leadership; let us welcome that challenge and meet it with all our resources and energy, so that the British Commonwealth of Nations by its practical idealism plays its full part in helping save the world from what otherwise will be an economic chaos.”