UNCLINV ASSURANCES
THE first day's debate on the conduct of the war, which is all that can be commented on here since the Prime Minister has not .spoken as we write, did little to assuage public anxiety. Notes of criticism, varying in emphasis, ran through almost every back- bench .speech, whether its authoi.expreSsed his intention of support- ing the Government in the lobby or not, The decision to put down g vote of censure was ill-advised in the extreme, resulting, among other_ things, in the postponement to the close of the debate of the Prime Minister's own speech, which might, if it had come at the beginning, have disarmed some at least of the critics. Mr. Oliver Lyttelton, the first Government spokesman, failed completely to do that. In some respects, indeed, his speech actually increased anxiety; for he had to confess that in many respects our equipment in Libya was inferior to Rommel's, 'and he quite candidly ascribed the failure of the Eighth Army to tactical mistakes, the unsuitability of our Cruiser tanks under desert conditions, and the superior weight and armament of the German tanks. No critic on the Opposition benches could have framed a more damning indictment. There are, no doubt, extenuating factors. The Dunkirk disaster had far- reaching effects, for it was imperative in June, 1940, to concentrate production on those types of armament most essential to home defence, leaving till later those more suitable for service oversea. The consequences of that, it is suggested, are still felt in Libya.
That may be true, but it provokes grave reflections. It is now over two years since Dunkirk. There has been an incredible explan, sion of British armament plant. For practically all the two years the United States has been making large and increasing contribu- tions to the equipment of British forces, and for the whole of this present year her output has been rising rapidly towards a still distant peak. Yet the Germans are in many respects still ahead. Lord Beaverbrook claimed that we had had more tanks in Libya than General Rommel. That may have been so, though the statement cannot be easily tested, but they were certainly not better tanks. Mr. Lyttelton, indeed, quite frankly admitted the inferiority of our equipment in various vital particulars to the enemy's. His whole speech, indeed, consisted in assurances that this or that weapon, definitely superior to the Germans', would " soon " be in produc- tion. But German invention does not stand still. By the time our new weapons are available the enemy may not be relying on his old ones. We have a terrible amount of leeway to make up, thanks to the refusal in pre-war years to listen to such believers in mechanical warfare as General Fuller and General de Gaulle. On the very day on which the Germans announce that the fall of Sevastopol was largely due to attacks by dive-bombers, Mr. Lyttelton was casting doubts on the value of this type—of which a few, having been ordered in June, 1940, have now reached one theatre of war, evidently not Libya. By the time these lines are read Mr. Churchill may have succeeded in giving solid grounds for some optimism about the immediate future. The need for that has seldom been greater.
Church and State in Germany
The courageous sermon preached in Berlin last Sunday by the Roman Catholic Bishop of Berlin, Count von Preysing, has not completely surprised those familiar with the Pastoral Letter issued by the Catholic Bishops in Germany last March, and just issued in leaflet form by the Ministry of Information. "Justice deriving from God," declared Count Preysing, "cannot be replaced by justice derived from the State. It is a fatal mistake to believe that the State is the highest expression of divinity." In the lengthy Pastoral Letter, embodying a series of considered protests against flagrant breaches of the Concordat of 1933, which was read in all Catholic Choiclaea throughout Germany, the Bishops ended with the uncornproor&ing 'declaration., ;`W.. definiteiv and firmly refuse the demand that we should shoW oar ioyilty oN our country by being faithless to c.pt.is.t. c.nd .t3ur, Church. We do remain true to our country just;bNaure -wt.;kczp faith at any price with our God and our Church." There is no suggestion here, or in Count Preysing's sermon, that the Roman Catholic Church in Germany is in the smallest degree anti-German. But it is openly and unequivocally anti-Nazi in so far as the conception of the supremacy of the State clashes, as it does fundamentally, with the Christian's conception of the supremacy of God. German Christians are fighting against us, but so long as they acknowledge, with Christians bete, a higher loyalty which both share, some basis for a stable reace can be visualised.
Post-War Relief
At an early period in the war the British Government began to accumulate reserves of food and raw materials in various parts of the world with a view to bringing relief to Europe as quickly as possible after the ending of hostilities. The Governments of coun- tries whose territories are in enemy hands have been invited to explore the more urgent needs of their peoples, and to collaborate in preparing schemes of post-war relief. The colossal task which will have to be faced will concern all the United Nations, but the largest responsibility will obviously fall upon the British Empire and the United States. This is the problem which has taken Sir Frederick Leith-Ross, chief economic adviser to the British Government, to Washington, where he is conferring with Mr. Cordell Hull and other members of the United States administration. The subject of their inquiry is the measures that should be taken immediately after the war to meet the urgent needs of vast populations when the whole of Europe will be in the melting-pot. Food will doubtless be the first consideration, and then materials for carrying on industry, and machines for the cultivation of the ground. There will be the problem of the financing of such relief and the forms which credit should take. The larger questions of world economic reconstruction will presumably be outside their terms of reference, but the thoroughness of the emergency work will be a governing factor in the
task that will follow. 410761
The Nation's Health
It is a very great achievement that during all the stress and strain of enemy bombardment, evacuation and diminished food supplies the nation should have passed through nearly three years of war with so good a bill of health. The detailed picture which Mr. Ernest Brown presented to the House of Commons on Tuesday is reassuring, and redounds to the credit of the health services and, it should be added, the food services. He was able to report that the health of the nation is in many respects better than in the days of peace. The infant mortality rate in the first quarter of this year was the lowest on record. During the past two and a half years the infectious disease rate has been normal, and with certain exceptions below the average. The incidence and fatality of diphtheria are being reduced. Scarlet fever has ceased to be a grave danger. Typhoid fever has been almost eliminated. The black spots have been pneumonia (for which there are now more effective means of treatment), cerebro-spinal fever, and tuberculosis, which remains a grave menace, undoubtedly increased by the black-out and night- work in some of the factories. Among the difficulties that have not been solved under war conditions are those arising from the pressure of work on doctors and the shortage of nurses. The latter is really serious. Means must be found to induce more young women to enter the nursing profession. Since compulsion would serve no useful purpose, there is only one means of securing the necessary recruits—by the long overdue reform of increasing the pay and improving conditions of work.
The Selection of Officers
In the last resort a candidate's fitness for a commission in the Army can only be tested by the results of his training in the 0.C.T.U. But it has been found that ftir !PO .many. cadets;-hisl to be returned to their:nirit•i.is•upsiiitable7.aild therefore% a better system of preliminary*:testing has: been devrted by which it is hoped that none but potentially good. officers. will .be• chosen for training. A short interview of IS to zo rinnufes*:wgs:welli enough in a majority of cases, but it did not alv.fayi suffice.' Piobably some good men failed to get through, and certainly a considerable pro- portion of unsuitable candidates were passed on for training. Under the new system candidates are attached to the selection board for two or three days, living as officers, undergoing various tests whose exact nature is not divulged, and solving problems designed to reveal their intelligence and initiative. In some cases a psychiatrist is invited to interview and report on borderline cases. The would-be candidate is seen and intimately observed by a number of judges, who together discuss each case before a final decision is mad The procedure might appear to be formidable, but we are assure that in practice it is not, and that sound results are obtained. I these days when man-power counts for so much and we afford wastage by training the wrong man or omitting to train th right man, it is well that the extremely important job of selectio should be put on a basis at once scientific and practical. Ther is a very general impression that the average army officer is general intellectual capacity below his colleagues in the other tw services. There are reasons for that. The peace-time Army, re stricted in size, never had the same attractions as the Navy or Al a Force. The sooner a change is made in that the better.
The Plight of the Retailer
There is one class of the community which has suffered fa more than its share of economic loss from the necessity of cuttin down supplies and reducing private consumption of goods. Th retailer (dealing in articles other than food), and especially the sm retailer, has been specially hard hit. The shopkeeper's overhe expenses remain, but his sales have been apt to go down and dow In theory a solution should be found similar to that which wa applied to manufacturers by the concentration of industries. Bu in practice no such remedy was easy. The advice given las February by the committee appointed by the President of the Boar of Trade, that retailers should combine their businesses to reduc overheads and release man-power, has not had much effect. A now the committee, after further enquiries, has put forward a schem for a levy on retailers who decide to remain in business for th creation of an Insurance Fund, from which payments would made to those who withdraw. The levy would be compulso for the larger retailers, but optional for those with a turnover o less than £1,000 a year ; but the latter would have to make the' decision at the outset, or be deprived thereafter of the right t take advantage of the scheme. The inducement to contribute amon these very small retailers appears to be inadequate. There is mu to be said for the scheme in its broad principles, but it bristles wi difficulties. The recommendation that those retailers who withdra should have a prior right of re-entry into the trade presupposes tha the opening of new shops after the war will be restricted proposition that requires much consideration. The general principl of concentration and compensation is sound, but the method o applying it will meet with severe criticism.
The State as Coal-Owner
In the recent critical discussions about coal production and th control of the mines little has been said about the great than which came into effect last Wednesday as a result of the Coal A of 1938. Under that Act the possession of all the coal in th country, and the royalties derived from mining, passed into the hands of a statutory body, the Coal Commission, by purchase from th existing owners of royalties where coal is already being worked o by simple acquisition of coal that is not worked. But the immediat effects of the change are not considerable. The existing lease holders are protected by their leases, and pay the royalties to the State instead of to the former owners. In the case of leases tha fall in, or new coal seams that might be opened up, the Coal (cfreamission is not empowered to work the mines itself. In the 'cow-se of many years it will acquire power by its right of granting new leases or extending old ones, and in addition it has been given powers for promoting reorganisation and schemes of rationalisation. But the procedure for compelling compliance is cumbrous in the extreme, and unless improved might not enable it to do much more than the old Coal Mines Reorganisation Commission, which was again and again frustrated by small groups of owners who were unwilling to co-operate. The unification of royalties that has now been effected is a step in the right direction, and in twenty or thirty years, if wisely used, might have great results. But the industry cannot afford to wait twenty or thirty years. This measure alone will not provide the large-scale settlement of the coal question which will be an urgent problan of post-war reform.
