COST OF WAR

Auckland Star, Volume LXXII, Issue 167, 17 July 1941, Page 4

COST OF WAR

TOTAL £69,700,000

ISSUE OF NEW LOANS

ALLOWANCES FOR WIVES

j (0.C.) W ELLINGTON, this day. I Financial provision for a total of J £69,700,000, including repayment of j £5,600,000 to the United Kingdom I Government is to be made in the .current year, stated the Minister of j Finance, Hon. \V. Nash, in dealing > w ith the \\ ar Expenses Account. £ eatures of this section of the Budget include new war loans by which it is hoped to raise £10,000,000, the proposed introduction of a War Damages Bill, the expenditure of £31,000,000 borrowed overseas, and payment of an allowance of 1/ a day to soldiers' wives with one or more dependent children.

Mr. IV ash said it would be appreciated that it was impossible to arrive at estimates of*war expenditure with any degree of accuracy as so many unpredictable factors were involved. He pointed out that the war expenditure last financial year was less than hair tiie amount estimated, owing to a considerable delay in the receipts for claims from overseas. The expenditure would be allocated as follows:—

iv £ •Navy 4.200,000 . Army 50,000,000 'Air 9,900,000 Debt_ repayment (United Kingdom Government) 5,600,000 Total 60,700,000 Estimated Receipts, £71,000,000 To meet the foregoing and provide a relatively small margin for contingencies it is estimated that the following receipts will be available:—Cash balance brought forward -from 19-10-41, £4,428,000; transfer of ! 1940-41 Consolidated Fund surplus, £1,726,000; transfer from Consolidated Fund, 1941-42, £1,500,000; income tax, I £2,300,000; estate, succession, and 'gift duty, £3,046,000; Customs, beer, sales tax and gold-export duty, £3,500,000; postages, £500,000; national security tax, £10.000,000; loans (United Kingdom Government), £31,000,000; loans (New Zealand), £10.000,000; national savings accounts and bonds, £3,000,000; total. £71,000,000.

The army estimated expenditure of £50,000,000 includes over £28,000.000 for stores and equipment and over £15,000.000 for pay and allowances. Of the war expenditure, it is estimated that £31,000,000 will be expended overseas, mainly on account of the army, and allowance has been made for the financing of such expenditure by the United Kingdom Government in terms of the memorandum of security arrangement. At the same time the New Zealand Government has repaid and will continue to repay such advances to the full extent that the Dominion's sterling funds will permit.

I Soldiers' Wives Aided Provision has been made in the estimated expenditure for an additional measure of assistance to soldiers' wives with dependent children. Such wives, owing to thendomestic responsibilities, are unable to take advantage of the present opportunities for remunerative employment, and accordingly, as from the beginning of September next, it is proposed to pay a domestic allowance of 1/ a day to soldiers' wives with one or more dependent children. For a full year, this will involve a charge of approximately £100,000.

With a view to assisting the dependants of members of the armed forces, it has recently been decided that in all cases where members are reported "missing" or "dead" the allotment and allowances and assistance being received from the | Soldiers' Financial Assistance Board I will be continued for three months after notification to the next-of-kin of the casualty. Thereafter the ordinary war pension provisions operate where the casualty has been a result of war service. If it is discovered within the period of three months that a member reported "missing" is a prisoner of war, the allotments and allowances are made continuous during the time that he remains a prisoner. In other cases, where the fate of a man reported "missing" remains unknown, the normal practice is for a war pension to be issued at the end of the three months, the pension replacing the active service payments. Should the discovery be made at a later date, following the issue of a war pension, that the member is a prisoner of war, the procedure is for the allotments and allowances to be restored and necessary adjustments made to cover any difference between these amounts and the pension since the date on which the pension was issued. The dependants of prisoners of war receive full allotments and i allowances during the whole period! of internment.

War Loans Next Month Allowance has been made for the raising in New Zealand of war loans totalling £10,000,000. A prospectus to raise this sum will be issued on August 1 for a 2 h per cent war loan maturing on August 1, 1946, and a 3 per cent war loan maturing August 1, 1954, the Government having the right, however, to redeem the latter on giving three months' notice on or after August 1. 1951. To the extent that the whole of this amount is not required to meet commitments in New Zealand it will be used to meet overseas war costs. To make way for these war loans, the National Development loan has now been withdrawn.

"The national savings accounts and bonds continue to yield satisfactory results and provision has been made for the raising of an estimated sum of at least £3,000,000 by this means," [added Mr. Nash. "I would urge all citizens to contribute to war ioans, whether in the form of the special war loans, interest-free loans or national savings accounts or bonds, as apart from the necessity of obtaining funds to meet war costs, a diversion of the spending power of the community to a furtherance of the war effort is an essential measure for economic stability." It is proposed to introduce this; session a War Damage Biil providing i compensation for loss of property j which may be destroyed by enemy' action. i The Government have been considering for some time measures necessary to re-establish in civil life 1 the thousands of men now in the armed forces, Mr. Nash continued. Most of the work of repatriation can be carried out by existing Departments and from the administrative point of view co-ordination and direction are the chief problems. It is proposed to bring down a Repatriation Bill this session which will deal with the matter on broad lines and set up a central authority