TH E TAB L E T , A p r i i l t i k , I 9 5 t

THE TABLET A WEEKLY NEWSPAPER AND REVIEW

PRO ECCLESIA DEI, PRO REGINA ET PATRIA

VOL. 199, No. 5838

FOUNDED IN 1840

LONDON, APRIL 12th, 1952

NINEPENCE

PUBLISHED AS A NEWSPAPER

THE ANVIL

Dr. Garbett’s Analysis of the Origins o f Modern Secularism PLACES AND POLICIES IN THE HOLY LAND

Impressions o f a Recent Visit. By Robert Speaight

THE FUTURE OF THE BBC The Curious Agitation Among Conservative Back-Benchers TRISTRAM ON THE THIRTEENTH CENTURY Henry III and English Wall-Painting. By Michael Derrick UNDER GOD AND THE LAW HOPE OF RENEWAL

By Richard O ’Sullivan

By Mgr. R. A. Knox

BETTER PROSPECTS

A LL reality has now gone out of municipal politics, and their elections are simply interim expressions of confidence or lack of confidence in the national policies of the Government. As such, the recent elections cannot bring much comfort to the Conservatives. The lesson seems to be that the 1951 election showed that the Socialists could command a bloc vote of not very much short of half the electorate which remains loyal to it in the most unfavourable of circumstances, and that it will indeed be a miracle if the swing of the pendulum does not add to that vote at the next General Election a sufficient floating vote to give the Socialists a majority. But what is more frightening is that, though the votes were cast almost entirely on national issues, yet the most important national issue of all was almost entirely overlooked. Whatever be the rights and wrongs of health services or cheese rations, what really matters is the strength of the pound and the state of our reserves. As it happened, the very period of the election campaign was a period of the growing strength of the pound—a growth which justified for the first time for six months a cautious optimism about the possibility of the country’s economic survival. This strength seemed to pass entirely unnoticed by the municipal electors, but the municipal electors unfortunately did not pass unnoticed by our foreign creditors, and their votes have gone far to undo the good effect of the Budget abroad and to plunge the country back into grave peril.

The March figures show for the first time a substantial check in the drain on our gold and dollar reserves. There is a loss of only $71 million, as against $266 million in February and $299 million in January. It is true that this very great reduction is partly accounted for by non-recurring items—the import o f $28 million of gold from South Africa, a receipt of $35 million from the United States for the special sales of rubber, tin and lead, and $10 million of reimbursement for the loss of gold due to the use of sterling balances by members of the European Payments Union. But, even allowing for all these, it is clear that we have reduced the drain by almost a half—which is a very considerable achievement—and there is little doubt that in fact the greater part of that loss was in the first days of March, and that there has been a spectacular slackening in the drain ever since the Budget. By the end of the month, Mr. Butler told us, we were even gaining gold.

The controversy whether or not we should repudiate GATT, the General Agreement on Trade and Tariffs, is a somewhat academic one. It is very arguable that, even if the United States were to abolish her tariffs and to throw her markets wide open to the world’s trade, her exports would still greatly exceed her imports and, in order to achieve Dr. Lippmann’s condition of “mutuality,” it would still be necessary for the rest of the world to discriminate against her for some considerable time to come. But, in any event, it is clear enough that the Americans have no intention of such a gesture. They have recently invoked GATT’s escape clause to increase duties on hats and to threaten increases on motorbicycles, bicycles and chinaware. They have put a quota on the imports of dairy produce, and they have shown themselves unwilling to do anything to simplify their customs, although it is notoriously the complication of American Customs which is a more potent bar to imports than their height. In fact, it is clear that America has no intention of accepting any imports which carry with them the most indirect threat of unemployment in any American industry. Australian Agriculture—

I f the rest of the free world is to discriminate against the dollar and if the food exports of Argentina are to be unpredictable, it is clear that few things are more important to world survival than the health of Australian agriculture. It is therefore alarming to find that since the war Australia’s population has increased by 3 per cent and her agriculture production by only 1 per cent. In wheat there has been a 25 per cent decline in acreage over the last four years, and the present acreage of 10,434,000 is the smallest since 1925-26. Production this year is expected to be 162 million bushels, as against 1947-48’s 220 millions. In milk there has been an increase of 1 per cent since 1939, but, as more milk is used for processing, there has been a fall in butter production— 164,971 tons in 1950-51 as against 203,500 tons in 1938-39. Only 55,635 tons were exported last year as against 102,534 tons in 1938-39. Meat production has increased over the last four years, from 947,000 tons to 1,013,800 tons, but over the same period domestic consumption rose from 739,400 tons to 847,900 tons. So there is less meat available for export. This is the record of our main non-dollar supplier. At the same time, in the world at large since 1939, the acreage under cultivation has increased by 3 per cent, the average yield of crops has increased by 6 per cent, but population has increased 13 per cent. In this country a steady 50,000 acres a year are going out of cultivation owing to the demands of housing and industry. —and European Agricultural Policies

The Committee of Ministers of the Council of Europe has met in Paris and has passed its verdict on the French