MAINLY BEVERIDGE

New Zealand Listener, Volume 31, Issue 800, 19 November 1954, Page 14

MAINLY BEVERIDGE

BEVERIDGE AND HIS PLAN, by Janet Beveridge; Hodder and Stoughton, English price 15/-. : HIS title suggests a book mainly about the Beveridge Report, but in fact the book includes a fairly full account of the life, to date, of Beveridge himself. This makes it more rather than less interesting, as it describes the turning points in Beveridge’s career that led him to study the question, and to write, first, in 1924, the pamphlet Jnsurance for All and Everything, and later, in 1942, the famous Report. This point of time is reached half way through the book; the rest is given over to the story of the reception of the Report. As is well known, the Report at once became a best-seller attracting attention in other countries, among them war-time Germany and the Nazi leaders. The Beveridge proposals, however, were tardily noticed by Churchill’s Government; Churchill didn’t want to confuse immediate issues by consideration of post-war reforms, an attitude that contributed to his defeat in the following elections. Lady Beveridge who, as Mrs. David Mair, had worked in collaboration with Beveridge for many years before her marriage to him in 1942, is a tremen-

dous advocate not only of the Plan, but also of her William. Her book is lively and full of interest and carries some

appropriate illustrations.

L.J.

W.