Some years ago a group of experts various fields formed an "Political and Economic Planning," it was more commonly called. The members of the group set themselves to study a number of social problems and to produce schemes for dealing with them. Their latest report is the result of solid research and earnest thought on the subject of the location of inst: the need to bring about a more harmonious relationship between industrial initiative and freedom, and the needs of the community The main proposal of the PEP is that the Govarnment should control the location of industry, After an appointed day no new factory should be built, or existing factory be extended, without the permission of a Commission appointed by the Government, In this way the chaos created in industrial centres in the early days of the industrial era by unregulated development would gradually be eliminated. A more drastic proposal is that derelict towns should be evacuated and rebuilt on new sites. PEP have actually drawn up a plan for moving Merthyr-Tydfl, a Welsh mining town of 67,000 inhabitants, which suffered severely from the depression, to a more healthy neighbourhood on the coast or in one of the Welsh valleys. It would thus be possible to build a model town right from the foundations, on the best hygienic and sanitary principles, and give its people a new start in life. The total cost of rebuilding, it is estimated, would be only about £ 10,000,000, and compensation for evacuated property between £4,000,000 and £5,000,000. The cost to the State in interest and sinking fund would be less than the £832,000 actually paid out in 1938 in unemployment pay and similar charges. This is a bold conception of thg duties of the State in regard to the regulation of industry, and it has roused the greetest interest among public men of z7 part
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