Welsh Journals

of the Welsh Economy' for 1948-1956, edited by Dr Edward Nevin and published by the University of Wales Press Board, showed that after paying for all costs of government for the years studied, there remained to the credit of Wales the sum of ^60,000,000. The total paid in taxation from Wales in 1956 was £ 220,000,000. The accent in a self-governing Wales would be on development. The purpose of freedom is to make moral and material development possible, so that the nation can be fully herself and can realise her potentialities. There will be a new incentive to foster commerce and industry. The Welsh are an able, organising people, who will certainly develop trade relations to their fullest extent. Most of the trade will of course be with England, and it would be no one-way traffic. There would be no need to emphasise this obvious fact had not an image of self-governing Wales been created which makes her an entirely separated, isolated entity, cordoned off from the rest of the world by mighty tariff and military barriers. The result of self-government will be more and freer intercourse with other peoples, increased trade and commercial relations and participation in the political and cultural aspects of international life. Finally, the needs of the special relationship with England can be met without serious difficulty. In order to keep the economic pro- grammes of the two countries in step there might be a permanent Standing Committee of the Ministers concerned, equipped with a permanent Secretariat. With an interchangeable currency this would make effective economic co-operation possible, while still leaving each nation free to develop her own economy to meet her own special needs. The establishment of a Welsh State would be a revolutionary departure, but it is the kind of creative development which has a liberating influence in many differing places. The radical decentral- isation which it portends is far more than a local need. And given the will that the Welsh nation must live, it is a necessary and practicable advance. NOTE WITH A PRESENT Lovely as bread you are, And fine as a bird's bone; Precious as air, and dear As liberty, silence and wine. lain Forbes White