Evening star., 1942-06-14

Not much has been heard of recon-
struction in Britain. The war and the
effort to win it are uppermost in the
thoughts Of everyone. The evil of the
day is indeed sufficient for most of us.
And yet it would be a great mistake to
suppose that no one is thinking of the
morrow.
There is general, if vague. conscious
ness that the problems of peace are
likely to be as difficult though they
cannot be so poignant, as those of war.
1t is realized that the opportunity for
reorganization was missed both at home
and abroad after the last war, and
there Is passionate desire among peo-
pie of all classes that the mistakes for
which we and others have paid so dearly
shall not be repeated. AS a result there
is good deal of thought and discussion
going on in many quarters The difficulty
is not to stimulate it, but to keep track
of it all and to bring it together into a
we'll co-ordinated effort.
Among the various bodies at present
engaged in this kind of work is Nufield
College, founded at Oxford Just before
the war by Lord Nuffield, the great mo-
tor manufacturer, with the intention of
promoting research particularly in the
political and economic field 1t is true
that in the early stages of the war it was
almost stagnant. but by degrees it has
succeeded in getting a team together to
tackle some of the problems of the fu-
ture. The greater part of its work is
devoted to social reconstruction survey.
Whole Factories Moved.
When the war ends, it is obvious that
Britain will have been turned upside
down. The normal life has been thrown
completely out of gear Not only mil
lions of men and women have left their
homes and gone into the armed forces,
but millions of others have left their
ordinary work in order to produce air.
craft, tanks, guns, shells, trucks, uni
things which war demands in greater
and greater quantities. All these mil
lions will have to be fitted into their
places in civil life again somehow.
Nor is that all. Not merely men and
women, but whole factories have been
moved from one part of the country to
another. Hundreds of new factories
have been built. Other hundreds of old
factories have been converted to war
and have given up their regular busi-
ness. What is to happen to them? Will
those that have shifted go back to their
old premises df they exist? Will those
that have been converted return to
their old line of business, and if so, how
long will it take? What new trades
have sprung up which are likely to con-
tinue and expand after the war? What
old trades will face the prospect of de-
cline and be unable to employ all their
people again?
These are just few of the questions
which present themselves. But there are
yet others. Hundreds of thousands of
women and children have left their
homes in the big towns and have been
billeted in the country. Many of them
have no homes to which they can re-
turn. Hundreds of thousands of houses
have been destroyed by blast and fire.
Every great town will have its own re-
construction problem. There will be
great shortage of housing to meet the
urgent demand of those who want to re-
turn to their old abodes, but to rebuild
the devastated areas and to provide
the new houses for which people will
clamor. how is the labor to be found
and the bricks, the wood and the ce-
ment? In a sense all these questions
hang together. They can hardly be dis