TO-MORROW'S WORLD

New Zealand Listener, Volume 5, Issue 118, 26 September 1941, Page 6

TO-MORROW'S WORLD

-- If We Think Out What It Means ?

[T was decided recently by the Australian Broadcasting Commission to invite the public of Australia to join with it in planning the post-war world. Kenneth Henderson, a prominent Australian journalist who recently joined the staff of the ABC, explained ‘in a Sunday night talk how the plan is to be developed, and we here reprint from the ABC Weekly a summary of his remarks. The first talk in the series itself was given by Professor G. V. Portus. It is also summarised here:

NE can almost hear the rattle of indignant fire-irons-the smiting of pokers on protesting grates-as some of our listeners register their vehement disapproval of this questioning of fate, while we don’t know where fate will hit us next (began Mr. Henderson). "How on earth," say they, "can we tell what sort of mess will face us when the war ends? How can we tell what we'll have to make the best of? What we shall have to reconstruct it with? What power can we use to get the world going again as a going concern?" That objection has to be faced. We cannot teil how soon or how much we shall be able to gain control of the mess of wreckage that the war will leave behind. In all so-called civilised countries the mess will consist of uprooted and uncertain people; industries twisted out of their normal shapes, markets and working habits disorganised. A Better Future To-morrow’s World at first will consist of worried people wanting to get back to some sort of order. It will have to be a new order more or less. They want it to be better. Here is a mother watching a small boy at play, and wondering whether he will be claimed by another war in another 20 years. All the problems of organising peace are behind her eyes.

To set her heart at rest and safeguard that child we must find ways of putting power behind peace. And we must substitute co-operation for total war and total preparation for war. Look at this farmer looking anxiously over a field of wheat, or that one frowning at his orchard, or the other scowling at his sheep. Their worries are the great questions of international economics. Take this worker in a factory. In good times he is apt to be resentful and suspicious because he thinks he is not getting his share of prosperity; in bad times he is worried about his job and his family. His generation wants a higher standard of living than the one before it. How to give him that with more security and more sense of partnership and responsibility in his industry? How to iron out the good and bad times? A dozen stiff questions here for you. They cannot be answered simply by slogans coloured red, white, pink, black or brown. Or take this young fitter with the brains and ambition to get an engineering degree. He is asking you questions that go to the roots of tlie education system in To-morrow’s World. Another Baby? Or look at this young couple wondering whether to have another baby. What a mixture of problems here! Social values -can they keep up with the Joneses? Will the woman keep her looks? Can

they get or afford a larger house? Can. they give the next child all it should have in the way of food, clothes and education without sacrificing the others? And the whole population problem of the country waits on their answer. Look at this doctor treating a child for rickets, or this young man leaving a recruiting office having just found out that he has a spot on his lung. All the problems of nutrition, preventive medicine, health services, are here. Or this group of men outside a starting price betting shop. They raise vital questions concerning the future of recreation and of education in to-morrow’s world. Or look into the very different picture of the young writer or painter who has the root of the matter in him but can’t get to his work. How shall we find him and. give him his chance? And finally, how shall we fit ourselves and our children to live together in fellowship, and live together for whatsoever is true, honourable, just, lovely, and of good report. This series is not for those who " come out in spots" when they hear opinions they dislike; nor for those who believe in free speech until "the other fellow" starts speaking. Thinking Aloud The Australian Broadcasting Commission is providing an opportunity for the nation to think aloud-to think through competent minds who know what things they want done better in To-morrow’s World. Z The last war, it was said, came to a "ragged end" because people were not ready for peace. This war must be THOUGHT to a finish. To avoid another "ragged end," the British Government has set up a Ministry headed by Sir Arthur Greenwood, Deputy-Leader of the Labour Party, and

the Australian Government has established a great research organisation working under the Ministry of Labour and National Service, whose head is Harold Holt. = The research programme is under the general supervision of Dr. Evatt. It plans to put to work over 80 groups of qualified experts on a great range of problems. These ABC talks are quite a separate, unofficial and informal undertaking, but we hope to tell you something of what these experts are doing, and to get some advice from them on their special subjects. "Yes," some will say, "but all this talk of. To-morrow’s World is only dreaming unless you can stop Hitler and his friends, It’s all only wishful thinking unless you get enough trained men, guns, and tanks in front of Hitler before he seizes the remaining key-points of world power. If you don’t do that in time you will get a new order all right, but it won’t be the one you want." That’s desperately true. We would fail the men who are doing the fighting, bleeding, and sweating for To-morrow’s World if we let Hitler wait while we argue and talk about a New Order. But the Nazis have thought out their New Order, and are ready to fight for it desperately. Will we fight less well for a better world if we think out what it means?