On and Off the Platform

Under the Southern Cross

by William and Janet Beveridge

Hicks, Smith & Wright, 1949, [First Edition], black and white photographic frontispiece, one other black and white photographic plate, hardcover, dustjacket

Very Good Condition, a little edge and shelf wear, a little rubbing and bumping to covers, institute stamp and sticker to front endpapers, age toned pages, dustjacket shows some edge and shelf wear with some rubbing, bumping, chipping, small tears and minor discolouration, small insect holes (see photographs)

“This volume arises out of a visit paid by Lord and Lady Beveridge to New Zealand and Australia in April and May of 1948.  It contains addresses, broadcasts and articles by the authors on many urgent problems of the day, including World Government, the Economic Position of Britain, Security and Liberty, Lost Children in Europe, Leisure for Housewives and Planning of Homes and New towns.  It contains an entertaining and pointed account of Lady Beveridge of her experiences Off the Platform and on it, when she was ‘Speaking Third’; the chapter with this title prints for the first time a striking original document showing the Beveridge Report on Social Insurance in a new light as a Weapon of Resistance in War.  In a Postscript on Plenty and Shortage the authors discuss together one of the main problems facing free societies , that of directing effort rightly.
The visit described here was paid in the first instance in order that Lord Beveridge might deliver the first De Carle Lectures in the University of Otago at Dunedin, and these lectures are incorporated in the four opening chapters.  One of them makes the first authoritative comparison of the Social Security systems of New Zealand and Britain.”