20 DECEMBER 1930, Page 1

Forty years ago our foreign policy was the sport of

Party tactics. The frequent chopping and changing did much to nourish the foreign belief in British perfidy; Lord Rosebery and Lord Lansdowne did wonders in producing continuity in foreign policy. To-day the Social Services arc the institution which 'above all others needs to be placed on neutral ground. These services should be administered scientifically by impartial econo- mists. It is an outrageous offence that they should be put up to auction by rival politicians just as though a General Election in Great Britain were a West Bans election under the old Poor Law. The Unionist manifesto lays it down that there can be no expansion. of the Social Services, however defensible in theory, until the national balance-sheet has been corrected. At present money is being poured out prodigally and the assets of the nation arc shrinking. The Unionist manifesto demands an inquisition into the costs of the whole administrative machine. The fight for economy will be the real political event of the near future. On one side will be those who acknowledge that nations, like families, can spend only what they have got ; on the other side will be those who foolishly believe that Socialism can be reached by beggar- ing Capitalism.