Provision Against a Slump The debate on the Address this
week concluded with the discussion of a Liberal amendment asking that the Govern- ment should prepare measures to combat a possible reces- sion in trade ; and it is to be regretted that Ministers should not have given the amendment a more favourable reception. To dismiss those who desire such measures as Jeremiahs, professional prophets of gloom, is frivolous and foolish. No one fears a trade depression now, or in a year's time ; but it is difficult to believe that, in two years, or perhaps three, with rearmament expenditure past its peak, the danger will not be very real. What the Government is asked to do is to prepare now plans for an eventuality which, by every evidence, must arrive sooner or later, and at the same time to postpone until that moment all public expenditure which is not urgently necessary. Two years is by no means too long for the preparation and co-ordination of such plans, so that when the time comes they can be applied with a promptitude and on a scale which will give them their greatest efficacy. The knowledge so painfully gained in the last depression makes an omission to take such steps an almost criminal lack of forethought. The Govern- ment is showing the same indisposition to take active steps in the vitally important matter of the storage of foodstuffs, particularly wheat, so properly and so effectively pressed on its attention by Sir Arthur Salter.
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