GREAT FINANCIAL BURDEN OF WAR.

Bay of Plenty Times, Volume XLIV, Issue 6494, 22 September 1915, Page 5

GREAT FINANCIAL BURDEN OF WAR.

Every Section Must Contribute.

lice Sepfc '22, ]\ am

London, ijept '2[ Mr R. McKenna, Ch.-incellor of the Exchequer, asksd the Housn of Commons to assent to great and 'unprecedented burdens?, lie estimated the revenue, on tin.'existing basis, at £272,000,000 and Ihc expenditure at .£1,500,000,000. He was sure the country would courageously arid con fidently face the outlay. Every section must contribute and make *°reat sacrifices. He estimated that at the end of tiiis year the dead weight of the. debt will be £2,200,000,000. This would in no wise cripple our resources. We had the navy costing £190,000,000, the array £715,000,000 and external advances amounting to £42.'),000,000.

The daily rate expenditure of all services from now to the end of the. financial year will be upwards of £1,500,000, possibly rising towards the close of the financial year to upwards of £5,000,000.

The expenditure for tho current year included £36,000,000 on pro and post moratorium bills and £170,000,----000 ou ordinary national services, ex- ! eluding the army and navy. Tliers was no record of any nation voluntarily accepting liabilities bearing so high a proportion to the total ineo-ne, for which provision must bo made within a singlo year. In regard to the now taxation both the strict freetrader and the scientific tariff reformer must temporarily put fiscal theories aside and look to the conditions of foreign exchanges and discourage imports.They must als< h we strict regard to the necessity for reduction in consumptioo. Besides an increase in income tax improved machinery will be uoinbitted for assisting employees and special relief for reduced incomes.

Forty per cent of the mc.ease would be for the full year, making twenty per cent for the remaining six months. The exemption limit woulj be reduced to, say, £100 and abate ment to £120, the tax to bo payable half-year. Tho proposed changes in income tax would yield an increase of £11,974,000, realising in the full year £44,000,000. He proposed to tax war profits and also to raise the supertax scale. A man without children, earning 60s weekly, would pay 18s lid quarterly. A man similiarly circumstanced, earning 80s weekly, would pay 40a 2d quarterly. A man with an income of £5,000 per year would pay £1,029; a man with £10,000 per year would pay £2,52!); and a man with over £10,000 per year 7s in the £1. The possessor of an income of £100,000 per year would pay £3-1,039. The revenue from excess war profits were estimated at £30,000,000 for the full year, but only £5,000,000 would be collected before March 31. The total additional revenue for the full effective year, under inland revenue, was estimated at £77,000,000. The proposed sugar duty would increase the price by a halfpenny per pound, yielding £11,700,000 per year. A fifty rxer cent increase on tea, coffee, and dried fruits, will produce £4,500,000, and on tobacco £5,100,000. The duty on motor spirit will be increased threepence per gallcn and the patent medicine duty will be doubled, yielding £250,000. There wffiild be na alteration en beer and spirits.

Demonstration at a Synod. Kec. Sept. 21, B'lQp.in Ottawa, Sept. 2). Them was an unpreccdental demonstration at the Anglican Synod when a letter from the House to the Bishops was read, over-ruling the decision of the Lower House for the deletion of the second versa of the National Anthem, The bishops decided that the verse could be sung with all propriety in war time. Members enthusiastically sung the verse amid tumultuous cheering.