THE COST OF THE WAR.

Press, Volume LIX, Issue 11243, 8 April 1902, Page 4

THE COST OF THE WAR.

I Britain entered apon the present war with an assurance from the War Office that the ' two Republics ought to be subdued in four months" time, at a cost of £10,000,000. The sum mentioned comprised the amount required to. transport 47,000 men to South Africa, and maintain them there for four months. Sir Michael Hicks-Beach told the House at-tiie time that his estimate might be exceeded, but neither he nor anyone else dreamt that it would be exceeded nearly twenty fold! The war that was expected to be over in four months is now in its third year, and still drags on; the 47,000 men soon iiad to be increased to something like 250,000; and tiie modest estimate of ten millions sterling voted at the commencement of the war seems almost

ludicrous in the light of subsequent events. The cost of the war is the subject of an article in the "Fortnightly Review, in which the writer, Mr H. Morgan-Browne, gives some interesting details of the vast expenditure entailed upon the national treasury. The cost of the war up to 1902 has been £158,406,000, made up as follows: — 1899 to 1900, £23,007,000; 1900 to 1901, £66,178.000; 1901 to 1902. £69,220,000. The estimates for 1902-3 total £40,000,000. That represents a decrease of considerably over £20,000,000 upon the war services of the previous year, but it is a, heavy enough addition to a war bill already gigantic in proportions. Even if the war is finished by the end of September next its cost will almost certainly have exceeded £200,000,000, and may, perhaps, reach £250,000,000. To this must be add«d the annual interest charges, and the cost of making good the damage done to the warswept territories. And not only has money been poured out like water, but the thousands of lives sacrificed in the great straggle must be taken into account. The nation has not grudged the cost, but it does feel that after such an outlay no settlement can be accepted which does not render impossible in the future any recurrence of such a disastrous war.