BRITAIN NOT HAPPY

Chronicle (Levin), 2 March 1948, Page 5

BRITAIN NOT HAPPY

(N.Z.P.A.rr

Reuter -

61um Forebodings Foliow . Events Abroad

Comriaht)

Received Monday, 7 p.m. ; LONJDON, Feb. 2{). Britain 's brooding over tlie grayity of her economic position lias been sharply. interrupted during Hhe prist week by the tdawing- of Czechoslovakia uito the -Oonimunist fold and tlie "'ehe-eking arid chivyying" events in ihe Falkland Islands and in Hondnras, The reaction to the first has been ghwn forbodihg. The seeond has eaused irritation. • Bitter memories of Hitler and ; M uuieh ha-ve been leVived by the! events in Gzechoslovakia. Even the most 'cursory study of events has showji that the Communists are repcating onee again Hjtfer's tactics, First tliere has been the diseovery of a reaetionar.v "plot," followed by ai "putsch/" which in turn has been sue•'eeded by a purge. All comment by . national newspapers has stressed the gravity of the situation, and this tone has been echoed by the weeklies. Perhaps one of the most forthright remarks has come from tlie Trilnine, a Left-wing' paper widely ••ead in Bocialist cireles. Stating its view, "with a due sense of responsi(ilitv, " it said: ' ' If sueh actions as we have seen ip the past week mark the settled and irrevocabie policy oi the Soviet Government — if they are finally resolved to stamp out all opinions and political activities except those of their owp. paftisans in any territory where they may wrest the means to do it — then the result in the end will he war." It con-

tinued: "We do not helieve the Soviet Government wants war, , hut they 'appear to be more eager to accymulate advantages for a future conflict which they' may regard as inevitable than to take measures calculated to prevent' 1 the conflict happening. ' ' This dull toue of, forelioding has been prevalent in private discussions on the suliject. Tn one which I had with the for-eign editor of a national daily he discussed the possible effect of the Communist action in Czechoslovakia, on Ttaly, Franee, axid Norway, and remarked: "If tliings go on likethis we may wake up at the end of the vear and find the Communists in Dieppe. " In another conversation with a Serviee ofiieer, he pointed out that' the eontrol of Czechosloyakia fitted into the Noviet pattern of forming a corridor to the Adriatie. " It was oiie. of a number of sueh Russian eorridors he

•'ointecl out, Ihe otliers being through Finland, through Poland and Germany, through Persia, and through Tibet to Cluna. Ile also eommented on a rfeport1 that the Gerpian vou Paulus is uated to have 12 Germah divisions in Siberia, and on American activify In Alaska. Guch eonversations may, of eourse, bick validitv, but it is tnie to say that they are being repeate'd in simila'R veYn" in thousands of private talks.

Irritating Tactics The. reaction of the Briush public to events in the Falkland Islands and in j Lionduras, on the other hand, has been j e hieflv one of irritation, and Lord Tedider's referenee to ' jackals" has found an echoing note. The Argentinian admiral 's antics, coming so soon after

(he much-eriticised deal on Argentinian meat, for which Britain had to pav iieavil v, has eaused a good deal of private bitter comment. The sending of a cruiser to Hondnras, tliough treated with a good deal of iionic laughter, has further 6ncreased irritation. At the same-time there is sharp realisation of the effect such in•idents have. on British prestige, a thing which is usually taken for . >; ra nted. The net result is incipient restlesstess and fuller realisation of just what the two World Wars have cost Britain. Aleanwhile, at home, after the sombreness of Sir (Stafford Cripps's warnings on the economic position, a slightlv more clieerful^nqte has. been. struck by tlie announcemeht that tlie Goveniment intends to stop up coal exports and bunkers to 15,000,000 tons or -10,000,000 tons this vear, which is in-

terpreted as a clear sign oi improved eifort by the miners. Another interesting thing has been the reaction, s to the Daily tMirror's "Explain the Facts" camjiaign Avith the objective of bringing home to tln public the ±'ull gravity of Britain 'a economic position. feeveral other national newspapers have praised the Daily Alirror's hand iing of such a difficult subject, while the newspaper itself has reported fout public reactions: (1) that the cairn paign is "too juvenile"; (2) a com plaint that it has all beeu heard before, and a request for "the real stuff";' . (o) a eomplairit that it is not what the people pav pennies for; and (4) praise. One comment I heard- was " What's Ihe Daily Mirror trying to do ? Frighten housewives out of their wits?" Public education, it'seems, is a difficult thing