WITH AMPLE WEALTH

Evening Post, Volume CXII, Issue 59, 7 September 1926, Page 25

WITH AMPLE WEALTH

WHY IS IT NOT USED?

IS BRITAIN INDIFFEKENT?

Every now and then one reads in the newspapers an account of some unhappy human being who, after living a life of wretchedness, has died in apparent destitution, and after whose death it was discovered that he possessed concealed Bomewhere on the premises a considerable amount of wealth which might have been.used during his lifetime to provide the comforts .^lie failed to enjoy. I sometimes think that we in England, to some extent, resemble such a person (writes Sir Ernest W. Petter in the "Empire Mail")- Members, as we are, of the richest federation of nations that the world has ever known, and with the ability to enjoy an inheritance handed down to us by our forbears which, properly used, is able to provide us with ail the comforts and luxuries of life, we prefer to live in insular indifference to the wealth that might be ours, and endeavour to meet our ter-

rifle burdens without availing ourselves of the assistance willingly offered by our fellow-citizens of the Empire in all our great Dominions. We envy American prosperity and send missions to investigate its causes, but we seem to have missed the real lesson which that country teaches, viz., that a people possessing great territories comprising every variety of climate, and producing almost every commodity necessary to civilisation, can, if it sets itself to utilise its resources, become a great independent and prosperous entity.

WHERE OUK SEAL HOPE LIES.

For eight years, since the termination of the war, we have turned our myopic vision upon Europe—the major portion of which has been reduced by ■war and its aftermath to the condition of a draggle-tailed mendicant, and have not seen that our real hope for future prosperity lies within the Empire in which we possess resources far transcending those of the United States. It is in welding our Empire into a homogenous econpmic entity that we shall ultimately find the solution of the problems which face''us in England to-day. Some of us dreamed that this would result from the united effort of all the British''people to save civilisation during the war, but even the sufferings of the war proved insufficient to awaken our people, and still after eight years

of declining industrial vitality, anu consequent internal dissension, we have failed to l<-arn our lesson and refuse to take the steps necessary to utilise the resources at our disposal. It is late, very, very late, but possibly just not too late to amend our ways. The statesmen of our Dominions are still ready to discuss with us the beginnings of a policy which shall have for its ultimate object the drawing together of the British people in all parts of the Empire, economically, financially, and industrially, and such a polcy, in my opinion, offers the only hope for a return of prosperity to this country. The British Empire is the best league of nations the world has ever seen. It

is the greatest factor for preserving the peace of the world that we can ever hope to institute. Within its borders we can develop the best form of civilisation the agea have yet produced.

With .its aid we can meet our financial obligations; we can find employment for our people; —e can solve all our problems. But if we delay much longer, if "we allow worn-out theories, or narrow-minded selfishness to hinder us; i£ we refuse to take advantage of the great inheritance which Almighty God has given us, our fate will be that of the wretched creature to whom I first referred —and we shall deserve it.