ENGLAND OF TO-DAY

Hokitika Guardian, 24 May 1921, Page 3

ENGLAND OF TO-DAY

PROBLEMS TO BE SOLVED. VIEWS OF NEW ARRIVAL ON AFFAIRS AT HOME. •UThe Old Country is having, any thing but a good time at present/ said a former resident of Sutton (nea London), \Vho lias just come out t New Zealand under the assisted immi gration scheme to a “New Zealam T|imes” repprter. “Before, I joined up in 1916, I had a small farm nea Carshalton, in Surrey, and as I wa dealing a good deal in live stock had to travel about a good bit. Th Government were very good to me. had every assistance until I could ge rid of my business and at last one o the heads of the horse-purchase depart inent took my business in hand, sn\ to my interests and practically ken my farm going and prosperous unti the war ended. Then strange to say T had an exceptional run of bad luck and now you see me in New Zealan< making a fresh start. From what have seen of this c ountrv I know ( shall succeed. Tt’s going to lie hart for some years, especially as the hot tom seems to> have dropped out of tin markets for wool, frozen meat, ant butter, but even at the prices non ruling there is a good living to be mndt ! — a t. least, I hope so. DISSATISFACTION. “There was a growing dissatisfnctioi with the Coalition Government whei 1 left at the beginning of this year Usually after a war there is a great deal of unrest and unemployment, ant there had been such an upheaval it the industrial world during the wai that it will take years before things readjust themselves. The change-ovei from women employees to male hat been slower .than many wished,- and there has been a good deal of unnecessary feeling displayed. Tn many cases the women workers were the principal wage-earners in families where the males hnve been few or where they had joined up or had made the supreme sacrifice. In such wises there was a distinct hardship in discharging the woman to make way for the man, and in many instances it has not been done. In my opinion, the Government and employers have bad anything but an easy task, and T think both have done remarkably well under the circumstances. You must remember that millions were employed and where millions of girls have to he displaced there is hound to he disruption. ■‘HARD TO SHIFT." “Then again, there has been considerable dissatisfaeton at the slow-ncss wth which the enormous Government staffs—-employed in hundreds of now establishments are being got rid of. Many are sticking like barnacles and apparently cannot be shifted. There are many high-salaried men retained, while there has boon retrenchment amongst the ranks of the lower paid. This has caused a lot of the trouble. On the military side, there has been much squandering—l suppose it was inevitable during such a perod, as 1914-1918 but it- surely should cease now. “There is a suspicion amongst the people that the Government are deliberately with-holding stocks of food from the markets, so as to keep the price up, and make'a profit or save a loss on some of their gigantic purchases. I don't know whether this is so, but I do know that the feeling exists and apparently no effort is being made to explain the real position to those who count—the people. I have never yet seen a decent explanation as to what the Government has done and is doing in this connection. THE IRISH PROBLEM. “the Irish problem is not disturbing the people oi nuigland, Wales, ami .-te'lolanu as one would gather from the cables sent from Juigluml to New Aculaiucl. lue news, an my estimation, scarcely presents the trite-position. lon read or isolated instances of trouble and clime, and you are apt to conclude that it is general, but it is not. The people of England are intensely loyal, despite the fact that they grumbled a lot, but the Irish, trouble has not affected England as the cables would suggest. '1 iie condition of Ireland generally must not be judged because there are. raids, murders, shootings, ami reprisals in a part of it. In many parts of Ireland business is splendid, and the industrial position is much better than the cabled news would indicate. In some of the crimes committed in England (and p believe tins would also apply to Ireland) the professional criminals have been to blame, and if there had been absolute peatv in Ireland, some of these desperadoes would have still been busy committing crimes.

“The state of Ireland is, of course, not what it should be, but there are many who think that had there not been such a vacillating policy, and those proved to be guilty of serious crimes been properly punished instead of hundreds being arrested and imprisoned one week and liberated the next, the trouble would not have developed. The policy of reprisals was a wrong idea, and merely intensified the trouble and perpetuated the feud. ENGLAND’S CLOUD. “Industrially England is passing through serious times, and one can only hope that better counsels will prevail and that this insane idea of striking, collectively or in sections, will soon he dropped. There is no doubt the slump in some industries has altered the whole position but so long as the miners restrict the* output of coal so long will the people liuvi; to sufler. They say that Wales would be a happy place if some of the so-called leaders who have lived on the miners for years could be pushed out, and (though I personally know little of this) a friend of mine says the same remark applies to the dis affected parts of Scotland. “Yes” this somewhat reflectively“the Old Country is passing througl troublous times just at present. Bu all over the world there is troublemuch worse than that in either Eng laud, Scotland, or Wales. Ireland is , problem beyond me, but I believe i will yet be solved. Even in New Zen land thousands of miles from the cer tre of tlie world—you are bavin > trouble, and there? doesn’t appear to b ’ any reason for it hero. But I am sur that at Home the sun lVcommencin to peep through the clouds. Lloy

George may hjjve his faults, but be is the greatest man in Britain—the greatest man in the world to-day.”