Kitchen Test

Britons last week got an idea of the reception that the Beveridge Plan for social reform may soon meet in Parliament. Up in the House of Commons was a Catering Bill introduced by hornyhanded Labor Minister Ernest Bevin. A restaurant worker before he became a dock worker, Bevin asked for a commission to investigate the catering business from top to bottom, then recommend any necessary reforms.

Britain's catering industry employs 500,000 workers, who put in 7 2-hour weeks and earn as little as $10 per month. Said Bevin: "I need [the bill] for the war ... in the interests of public morale. ... I need it for the transition period. . . . Our people have had no holiday, no rest, no recuperation since the war broke out. ... I need it for the postwar period to [help] solve mass unemployment ... it is a bill small in character but great in potentialities."

The test was significant. Mobilized against the bill was a large block of Tories led by a titled hotel expert, Sir Douglas Hacking, who is also a potent behind-scenes figure in the Conservative Party. Beveridge Plan supporters felt that the Tories were simply voicing their traditional conservatism. Said Sir Stafford Cripps's leftist Tribune: "The British people will have only themselves to blame if they ignore the fact that the old ruling class are as reactionary as ever."

The House, except for final formalities, passed the Bill 283-to-116. But the opposition vote was bigger than any registered on an internal question since the Churchill Government was formed.

This file is automatically generated by a robot program, so reader's discretion is required.