The Temperate Zone
Last winter, when it was very cold, and transport and plumbing services were disorganised, there were numerous suggestions that permanent provision should be made to deal with this type of diffi- culty. This week, when it was very warm, and water supplies broke down, other suggestions were made for preventing these happenings in some other summer. The arguments for capital provision against rare climatic contingencies are somewhat blunted by the law of averages which shows thaf we normally live within a narrow range of temperature. Last winter's cold was the most extreme for over seventy years. This week's heat was, for the season, the most extreme for over seventy years. So even allowing for the fact that the average only exists in arithmetic, can we really afford to make permanent provision for these very occasional happenings? Full protection against the weather—the Palm Beach suit and the fur-lined overcoat —was always a luxury for the rich. Any clothing ration book pro- vides the proof that it is not within the reach of .the increasingly poor. There are many sensible things we can do. In the course of years we can cease tempting Providence by putting water-pipes outside houses and insulting nature by ignoring the benefits of goloshes in a country where it frequently rains. Without accepting the frivolity of Sir Stafford Cripps, vyho suggested at a clothing exhibition this week that we should wear pyjamas in the day time, we may reject the asceticism of the other legal gentleman who, also this week, refused to hear Counsel because he was not wearing, in addition to wig, gown and jacket, a waistcoat. But we neither can nor should dissipate resources which are inadequate to meet the certain needs of every day to provide against something which may happen once in a lifetime. The British failure to cope with the climate is partly due to lack of foresight but mostly to economics.
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