NOT FORCED TO BEG

Sun (Auckland), Volume II, Issue 594, 21 February 1929, Page 9

NOT FORCED TO BEG

PAPER EXPLAINS PRINCE’S SPEECH BRITAIN’S UNEMPLOYED (Australian and N.Z. Press Association) LONDON, Wednesday. References made by the Prince of Wales to the unemployment problem in his speech at the British Industries Fair dinner last evening, are commented upon by the “Daily Express.” The newspaper says it would be a veritable disaster if mistaken inferences from public speeches and national appeals encouraged the people in the Dominions and the rest of the world to believe that Britain is in the throes of poverty and starvation. It refers to a passage in his Royal Highness’s speech, which it says seemed like an appeal not only to Britain but to the Dominions to contribute to a solution of Britain’s unemployed problem. Hastily read, that passage might by construed as a confession that England cannot longer support her own burdens, and is forced to beg. That certainly was not the Prince’s meaning. Britain needs no charity from abroad, says the article. Co-operation and close consultation with the Dominions, settlement, trade and whatever else makes for Imperial unity—yes; their charity—no. Britain does not need that. Her present troubles are severe, but she will worry through them unaided. Now, as ever. Britain stands on her own feet. Goodwill prompted the miners’ donations from Australia, Canada and elsewhere. That is appreciated, remarks the writer, but England would much rather have it thoroughly well understood that donations, however kindly, are superfluous. There is nothing in Britain’s financial or economic position to justify her receiving donations. One effect of this benevolence is to damage Britain’s credit and convince the world that England is either too poor, too indifferent, or too self-indulgent to shoulder her own burdens.