BRITAIN ENTERS 1948 WITH CONFIDENCE

Chronicle (Levin), 3 January 1948, Page 8

BRITAIN ENTERS 1948 WITH CONFIDENCE

LONDON, Jan. 1.^ Britain greets the New Year with the hope that it will be a turning poiht in ker postwai- foi'tuhes: Therft is ho niourning for 1947, a year of economie erises, pdlitical re^rimihktions, severe winter, siimmef dfought, and poor diet, with hio'i'e people lekving the cottntry than at any time sincb 1.929, and with the most people in prison since 1913. Despite this ittiiiie'diate and glum backgrouiid the trhditiohai dheerful: hess and hope have been mofe spbhtaneous than might have been expfected. There is a gendral fediing that things are on the ineiid. The presexit ineod is not to dwell On the diffieuitieH ahead, but rathef to poiht to the iiiiproved coal and steel prodiiction hnd the rising level of exports, There is a feeling that Britain has had for too iong a diet of woe, and that her futufe fare must contain piofe sliftes of SuC;' cess. Thus, though thb. thfee WbfSt months of the winter lie ahead. the thought of ahother fuel crisis foreckst oniy a few months ago is iiow- iiever— well', hardly ever — mentiOhed. Tholigft the British people need more food, and there appears little itiimediate prospect of increased ratiohs, a hopefiil note is being souiided aboufnew trade treaties being made by the Governmeht to add more calories to the daily meals, .ahd British agriculture is being looked to for more food. The Labour Government was bemg bitterly eritieised only a short time ago, but there is now & good deal ot cominent by Right wing newspapers, as -well as Left, that it has weathered the ^torm and is how sailing more donhdently. Of its leaders, the man who commands most nation'al respect and stands highest in the public esteem xs undoubtedlv Sir Stafford Cripps, wlxo lxas never flinched from warning tae nation of the difficulties ahead and tne renx(>dies thot must be taken. The Government appears to st'art the New Year in much better shape tlian migixt at oue tixne have been antiexpated and many of its supportefs aim warmly approving the nationalis ition of the railways and canals, t'akeh over oxx New Yeaf's Day. •Such is the prevailing xnood. At the sarae time, there x's less enthusi'asm over the poor housing hgxxres and over the Registration ot Employment Order, which comes into forcfe on Mondav, and requires the registration of street traders axici c'persons not gaineun.y emplojmd or Qceupied. " Theve has also bee'n mudx advox-se comment on the decision of the Trades Union Congress to oppose tlie pegging of wages at the present l6vepand removal of food subsidies.. It says much for the steadiness aixd resiliehce of the British people that -in • the facr of their preoccupatioxxs they ean begin' the New Year .iix a spirxt of cheerfix!xxess and hope. But that is the mood.