ENGLAND'S DARK HOUR.

Shannon News, 16 October 1925, Page 2

ENGLAND'S DARK HOUR.

SEEN THROUGH NEW ZEALAND EYES. Industrial ami social conditions in England at the present time are causing much anxiety in commercial and political circles not only at the heart of the Empire, but hi the overseas Dominions, it being- realised more ihan ever that the members of the British Commonwealth are vitally affected by the prosperity or depression of the people of the Homeland, who constitute the Dominion's chief market, a "Chronicle' 1 reporter' approached Air Stewart Park, who has just returned from a visit to England, witii a view to obtaining his observations on the industrial outlook. Mr Park expressed reluctance to pose as an authority on the subject, or appear as a prophet of disaster. At the same time, he said, the average observer could not fail to/ be convinced thai all was not well with industrial .England, and one found the opinion openly stated by leading publicists like Mr i. L. Garvin, editor of the Observer, that only a miracle could save the Old Country from a great industrial crisis. Unemployment was rife. The ranks ■ of the workless totalled a million and a-half, and there was <no sign of improvement. In Glasgow, Mr Park saw the. great ship-building yards of Win. Beardmore absolutely idle except for the- construction ufj one small Jerry 'boat. Ship-building, one of Britain's fundamental industries, was at a standstill largely because owing to the uncertainty of labour; no guarantee could be given a>s to when contracts would be completed. A'typical case was that of a contract calling for three 10,000-ton motor boats. The English tender was £60,000 per ship more than the best Continental estimate. The contract would have been .'given to an English firm at a price subsequently arranged, even 1 hough higher than the Continental YiguiT,'" but no guarantee could be given of completion to due date and the order went abroad. To such m, parlous condition has the once mighty British ship-building industry descended. The coal crisis was another incident that threw a revealing light mpon the plight of the Oltl Country. The truth was, said Mr Park, that it was becoming increasingly costly te raise coal in 'England, owing to the difficulty in working, and this made it impossible t.m raise wages and at the same time meet foreign competition. The suggestion that the mining industry should 'be saved by a suusidy was at first absolutely rejecTed by the Prime Minister, Mr Baldwin, who pointed out that the same method would have to be applied to all other languishing industries. Yet within a few days he had completely reversed that decision and « had agreed to a. subsidy of eleven millions a year. Mr Baldwin had been forced into this course against his judgment by the knowledge that if he had not yielded, the whole activity of the nation would have been paralysed and England would have set out on a. road the end of which no man could foretell, with possibilities too terrible to envisage. The menace had been averted for the time being, but it had not been removed.

A great part of the Old Country's troubles were due to the pernicious system of unemployment relief known as "the dole.'* Under this system a Avorklcss man received nearly £1 per week Avith further allowances for his wife and children. He Avas under no obligation to look for -work and many of the unemployed hart 'been "on the dole'' for years. The annual cost to the country Avas 75 millions a year, and probably the greatest problem of British statesmanship Avas to replace the dole system, now firmly rooted in the social fife of the country, Avith some plan that depended more upon the 'independence and self-reliance of the in--dividual. _

A further disquieting factor in the situation Avas the growth of political parties avlio kneAy no law but their OAvn. Otie heard the Communists openly proclaiming their outrageous doctrines, and on the other hand the British Fascist! claimed 300,000 enrolled members. Mr Park was living not far from Hyde Park, Avhcre all extremists have free speech to a limit undreamed of even in a free country like New Zealand, and he had many .opportunities of observing these manifestations of the times at close quarters. Whether the Fascisti were right or wrong, he came away marvelling that in such a country as England, it should ever be imagined the maintenance of constitutional law should Be the function of any element outside the constitution.