Daily Post - 19.02.1943, Side 4

Commons lote On
Beverldge Plan
119 For Labour Amendment
í London, February 18th.
The British House oj Commons this moming opened the
final stages of the debate on Sir William Beveridge’s Plan. The
Home Secretary, Mr. Herbert Morrison wound up the debate.
The Home Secretary was fa-
ced with the Labour Party’s
amendment, which called on
the Government to put the Be-
veridge Plan into operation
with the least possible delay.
The amendment expressed the
profound disappointment of the
Labour Party at the Govern-
ment’s attitude, which it ur-
gently asked the Government
to reconsider.
GOVERNMENT’S CRITICS
Mr. James Griffith, (Labour)
said that the Plan was a symbol
of the kind of Britain we were
determined to have after the
war was won. “We have in our
hands to-day”, he said, “the
future democracy of the world”.
It was not a question of whet-
her we could afford the plan,
but whether we could face the
post-was period without it. An-
other member, Captain Grey,
said we meant to return to the
continent of Europe this year.
To do this would mean the in-
finite sacrifice and devotion of
our people and our soldiers,
who, he felt convinced, were
behind the plan in overwhelm-
ing majority. He consequently
wanted the plan put into opera-
tion with the least possible de-
lay, and called for the imme-
diate appointment of its author,
Sir William Beveridge, as Min-
ister of Social Security, that the
people might feel convinced of
the Government’s sincere in-
tentions in this matter.
MR. MORRISON
“MYSTIFIED”
In winding up the debate Mr.
Morrison declared that he was
mystified by the belief expres-
sed in some quarters that the
Government wanted to evade
the issue. Sir William Beveridge
himself had declared that the
decisions about the execution of
the plan would require a con-
siderable time.
He would also like to point
out, the Home Secretary said,
that the publication of the re-
port had only been made 12
weeks ago. During this time the
Government had worked hard,
with the result that of the 23
main social changes proposed in
the plan, 16 had been accepted,
six had been left over for furt-
her consideration, and only one
(the taking over by the state of
private companies’ life insuran-
ce business) had been rejected,
at least for the time being.
FINANCIAL DIFFICULTIES?
Dealing with the financial
aspect, Mr. Morrison said that
the Government must consider
its priorities. Sir William would
be the last man to say that Sir
Kingsley Wood, Chancellor of
the Exchequer, and the Go-
vernment have no need to look
to the financial aspect of the
execution of the plan, and the
attitude of the Government was
simply that it refused to make
reckless promises.
On the vote being taken after
Mr. Morrison’s summarizing
the Government position, the
Labour Amendment was rejec-
ted by 325 to 119.
At the same time, a Govern-
ment spokesman declared in
Tokio today that these opera-
tions are intended only as a be-
ginning, and that Japan is a-
bout to make a big effort to
complete the conquest of China,
destroy the Chung king govern-
ment and extend the authority
of the Hankow puppet govern-
ment over the whole country.
At the same time as the Jap-
anese spokesman made this
statement, Madame Chiang Kai
Shek was appealing to the U.
S. Congress not to regard the
New U.S. Army
Formed
London, Feb. 18th.
United States troops in
Australia and New Zealand are
to be formed into the U. S. 6th
Army, under the command of
Lt.-Gen. Walter Kruger, for-
merly in command of the Uni-
ted States 3rd Army. This was
revealed to-day, as a step taken*
on the recommendation of Gen-
eral MacArthur, C.-in-C. South-
West Pacific.
In this area American army
aircraft are now operating in
all theatres where enemy sub-
marines are to be found, and on
land, General MacArthur’s for-
ward patrols are closing in on
the Japanese near Mubo. There
is no sign of the enemy really
halting or trying to take up a
position of defence, and as a
matter of fact, the enemy for-
ces are so scattered around
Mubo, as to make it difficult to
say where his rearguard really
is.
Air Aetivlty
London, Feb. 18th.
Last night our naval aircraft
went for small enemy shipping
off the French coast, and sunk
one vessel. Simultaneously our
bombers were over Western
Germany.
war against Japan as a secon-
dary part of the war.
REYKJABIO
Bitter Sweet
with
JEANETTE MAC DONALD
NELSON EDDY
I
Japanese Announce A Big
Offensive Against Ghina
f London, February 18th.
In China, the Japanese have launched a big offensive in the
»central provinces.
Tunisla
(Continued from page l.>
likely to present any difficul-
ties.
The great question now,
Gillard says, is whether the
Axis forces will make a stand
at the Mareth Line, or whether
they will decide to fall back on
Gabes, to establish a shorter
line between the coast and the
salt marshes to the west. The
distance between the sea on the
one hand and the salt lakes on
the other is only 15 miles, and
is likely to prove a fonnidable
barrier, at least as long as the
rainy season lasts.
AMERICAN WITHDRAWAL
News to-day from General
Eisenhower’s Headquarters is
to the effect that American and
French troops have evacuated
three places, Sbeitla, Kasserine
and Feriana, which all lie on
the 40 mile stretch of railway
running south-west in the di-
rection of the Algerian frontier.
The enemy’s ability to pene-
trate further depends on the
amount of petrol and military
supplies he has at his disposal,
as it is believed that the Ameri-
cans either took away or des-
troyed all their fuel supply at
these places.
This latest move of the Axis
shows that their panzer units
have advanced 40 miles, and
have forced a radical readjust-
ment of the Allied defence line,
which has been swung back at
an angle of 45°. The width of
the Axis corridor has thereby
been about doubled. Fighting
to-day is reported to have
quietened down.
MANY AIR RAIDS
In spite of the loss oí the
three forward airfields situated
at the above mentioned places,
Allied Headquarters report a
day of great air activity. A long *
line of Axis motor transports
was shot up, resulting in the
destruction of 35 enemy vehic-
les. Flying Fortresses, Mitchells
and Marauders swept over Sar-
dinia yesterday, causing what
the Italians describe as, great
damage to the island’s three
principal airfields. On Tuesday
night Allied heavy bombers
raided the airfield at Herak-
leion on Crete, starting two
large fires. The same night,
other Allied aircraft were over
Sicily, where they set fire to
two locomotives, seriously
damaging three others.