GERMANY'S BURDENS.

Auckland Star, Volume XXXIX, Issue 105, 2 May 1908, Page 4

GERMANY'S BURDENS.

The report just submitted to the German Reichstag by its Budget Committee, to the effect that Germany must borrow at least £50,000,000 within the next five years to cover annual deficits, has been described by a member of the Committee as "horrifying"; but it probably does not exaggerate the actual necessities of the case. This year the Budget Committee has had a most unenviable task in" endeavouring to make both ends meet, and the expedient now suggested reads very like a counsel of despair. The fact is that Germany has been for some years past holding on a course that seems like-i ly to lead straight to serious financial disaster. The countries that make up: the German Empire are by no means wealthy, judged from the standpoint of natural resources; and even the vender-! ful expansion of German commerce and! industry within the past decade has not! been enough to counterbalance the 1 steady increase in the liabilities that the' Kaiser's subjects have undertaken. The! taxes have been growing rapidly, but they have not kept pace with the constantly augmenting, expenditure on the German colonies, and on the naval and military schemes in whicE the Kaiser takes so keen an interest. The burdens of national defence press more heavily upon the Germans than on any other European nation to-day, and the recent rise in the jirice of practically all the necessaries of life h as made it harder than ever for the masses to make a living and pay their way. The deficit admitted by the Imperial Treasury last year was over £20,000,000, and the Reichstag authorised Government to issue nearly £7,000,000 of additional Treasury bills to •meet the emergency. But apparently this is not enough, and the Kaiser's Ministers have decided that they must embark on a systematic course of borrowing for some years to come. It is a desperate policy thai may easily in the present discontented state of the country lead to very dangerous results.. And whether the Kaiser's intentions be pacific or the reverse it is obvious that his naval programme is likely to reach its limit sooner than he desires, through the inability of his Finance Minister to supply the necessary funds.