Evening Post. TUESDAY, MARCH 13, 1934. AN INSPIRING EXAMPLE

Evening Post, Volume CXVI, Issue 61, 13 March 1934, Page 6

Evening Post. TUESDAY, MARCH 13, 1934. AN INSPIRING EXAMPLE

Another characteristically British address was delivered v by Sir John Sandeman Allen, M.P. for the West Derby Division of • Liverpool, to ,a Wellington audience yesterday, and the New Zealand Club shoSyed its appreciation in much -the same way as the Wellington 'Chamber of Commerce had previously done. His subject on this occasion & was much the same, and his manner'arid style were exactly the same' as 'before. There were no . fireworks, ,ho rhetorical devices, no boasting, no flag-waving, but a, plain and unpretentious account of the financial and economic troubles which Britain had recently had to face, of the spirit in which she had faced them, of her refusal to seek relief in meretricious or revolutionary changes, of her reward in the complete recovery of her credit from a blow which was nearly fatal, and of her hope that the same spirit and the same methods would lead her to a complete economic and industrial recovery also. Sir John Allen was quite right in supposing that, though the details of Britain's great struggle had been vividly brought before us from day to day, its significance as a whole might not have been fully grasped, and, that there was a moral in it which might provide other British--democracies with encouragement and guidance in their own special troubles. To acquire a better understanding of the difficulties of the Dominions and to impart to them a better understanding of the difficulties of the Motherland is the double purpose of the tour which Sir John Allen, has undertaken in the interest of Imperial unity, and his speeches in Wellington leave no doubt as to his success in both these objects. Unreadiness to prepare for difficulties in advance, a resolute determina-. tion to overcome them when, 'they arise, and a love of freedom which has no tolerance for a -dictatorship were described by Sir John Allen as hereditary traits of the British,character, and he was right in assuming'that these traits are shared in fullSmeasure by the Dominions. There '^was one thing, he said, that the British race would not tolerate and that was dictation, and all had'to take care that there was no preparation for dictation. So far as New Zealand is concerned, there has been no serious attempt at the class dictation to which Sir John Allen particularly referred since the failure of the great strike of 1913, and lately the Dominion has not been perturbed by preparations for dictation, nor even by talk about it. But in both these respects the lot of Britain has been very different. In May, 1926, she suffered from a general strike which .challeriged;.the authority of ■ the- Government. arid therefore of the State,'- and in. 1934' she' is troubled by talk pf a dictatbrship in more quarters than one which the serious comments of Mr. Baldwin and others show . forbid '. one- to. dismiss' as mere "sound and fury- signifying nothing." •; ' ■ Sir John Allen spoke briefly but very much to the point on the meaning of the general strike of 1926 and on the significance of its failure, not merely for Great Britain but for Europe. It was an. attempt on the part of the Miners' Federation supported by ,the General Council of the Trades Union Congress, to' dictate to the Baldwin Government on an issue of capital importance, and though a political revolution was no part of their plan of campaign their victory must, by destroying the authority of the Government and substituting that of an unconstitutional power, have had consequences which they had not contemplated. Realising that the fate of constitutional government was at stake, the nation rallied in answer to Mr. Baldwin's call, and within a fortnight the strike was broken. The logic of the position was well stated by Mr. Ramsay Mac Donald, who was then the Leader of the Labour Party: A general strike soon appears as a blow aimed at the •whole community and must draw in the Government ■n-ith all its resources. If these wise words which Mr. Mac Donald wrote in '"Forward" about a week after the strike was called off had appeared before it began they would have been of greater value. But on this occasion the nation, well led by Mr. Baldwin, had-to, pnlL through without Mr.

Mac Donald, and the-effects of its success were, in Sir John Allen's opinion, not confined to Britain. The orderliness and good temper of the struggle had reflected great credit on the striker's themselves,1 but. their victory would'have Keen:a-sigrial'fbr similar outbreaks in' other European States where Violence and bloodshed would havebeen inevitable; "with ultimate consequences beyond' prediction. The other' great -achievement. of Britain with .which' Sir; •John. Allen thrilled his audience jyas the mariner in which she faced •apparent'disaster in August, "1931, and .turned it^into victory. She was confronted with a prospective full-year' deficit of £170,0t)0,00(). , ,Hef-,creai^was^at the "lowest pp'ssibie^ebbi'Otiief nations werefcalling in tHeir,khof^-terin,.de-posits.1 which for years had-favoured London'as the safesti/place;; in^''the world, land gold:was flyingta^y;Xfo Paris; arid New'YoVkl ■''''lOncaI Onca loin of £50,000,0qp Jrohi the-:United"States arid "France^ ■ Britain^ha^ to, payj B ; per cent.; but? she li?sf6rgotteii the-fact when tlie.ErencH; thtemselyes^<wef<e';in need a.year pr.two later arid^rovided them' with the 'moneys at aj lbw^rate. As a result of; 'these ' and other troubles^- said V Sir '■:• John ; Allen, "BritainVJeft 'the;.;gpld standard and th^n/^he^TOke v;up:?': Goverhnienf "■ vw^s;>v i /form^di: 1X Mr. Sn.owderi'!s>^riitHless. sßudge't; was carried^ a majority .'of; nearlyv.ten ,to one at the General Election. Sir John Allen was doubtles_s correct when he described that result as "the most tremendous triumph of a nation over party in the history of the world." In place of a deficit of £170,000,000 Britain is now expecting a surplus of millions. With,her credit fully restored she '.'stands out financially anS* politically as. the' leader: ofEurope^and -the-world," ;: But this magical change had Keen carried out by perfectly simple means. ' Britain had fixed Her difficulties in the old spirit and in the old way had refused to adopt "any fake or fancy methods." It is for this, the most British of the Dominions, to take this great example to heart and to follow in Britain's steps as closely as it can.