A New Depression The report of the Commissioner for what
are euphemis- tically known as the Special Areas is a depressing document, and it derives a certain added importance from the fact that it is one of four notable contribu- tions to see the light in the course of this week and next on the social and industrial problems facing the country. Mr. Malcolm Stewart has so far spent, or authorized, just over 12,000,000 on schemes which he recognizes are little more than palliatives, but his powers debar him from promoting such useful public works as a bridge over the Severn and a tunnel under the Thames. Regarding the depressed. areas themselves, particularly the coal areas, his gkom is almost unrelieved, but he is certainly right in urging that the State as a whole should shoulder a larger share of the burden.. Rates at 25s. in the 'pound are enough to frighten any industry away. As general palliatives he recommends emigration— which needs the concurrence of the Dominions—the raising of the school age and some encouragement of a reduction of working hours. The report is an important, if depressing, addition to the reconstruction dossier of the fortnight, in which the first chapter Was Mr. Lloyd George's plan and the third and fourth will -be the Government's own 'statement and the Oxford proposals drawn up by Sir Arthur Salter, Sir Walter Layton, Mr. Harold Macmillan and others.
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