NATIONAL ECONOMY.

Press, Volume LXVIII, Issue 20612, 30 July 1932, Page 3

NATIONAL ECONOMY.

DEBATE IN THE LORDS. CONVERSION OF DEB?. (from our own correspondent.) LONDON, June 24. The House of Lords debated a motion by Lord Hunsdon which, while thanking the Government for what it had already done to reduce expenditure, called upon it to secure a further reduction both ot' expenditure and taxation. In the matter of economy the Government could not separate national indebtedness from local indebtedness. The Government should do more than they had done in the past to discourage the loans of local authorities. The local yearly expenditure in England, Scotland, and Wales had trebled since 1914 and national expenditure had proceeded at much the same rate. When it was remembered that this increase came after spending about £8 000,000,000 in the war it was very difficult to find words to describe such action. Perhaps the most important effect both for Britain and the world on the burden of debt and fixed charges would be obtained by a rise in prices. Since the Macmillan Committee report, prices hnd continued to fall, and the burden of debt at fixed charges had, therefore, continually increased. Thus, in the words of the report, serious disaster was threatened to all countries alike. The Government had agreed as to the importance of a substantial riso in wholesale prices. It had learned that cheap money was a symptom of falling prices and not a remedy. He suggested that the committee, which, he understood, was being formed in the House of Commons, should consider how prices could be raised, and report to the Government; that the Government should form a monetary policy with that end in view, and should not allow things to drift.

Lord Reading said that the saving on a conversion from 5 to -1 per cent, on the £2,000,000.000 debt that matured in 1929 would be only £16,000,000 net. He would like to see the conversion ext-nded to the remaining £4,300,000,000 of war debt, and if that were possible the economies would be such as could be felt. He thought it was possible, but it might be necessary to take very strong measures, though lie hoped that it would not be. Lord Marley treated the economy movement as a proof of the breakdown of the Capitalist system, and went on to build up an argument for his Socialist faith. All other remedies were pitiful. He went on to compare conditions here and in Russia, to the disadvantage of this country. Lord Heading angrilv denounced this as false, and unworthy of a member of their House. Socialist Mirage. Lord Linlithgow said that ail parties were to some extent responsible for • the present situation, but did not think the cure lay in the direction indicated by the Labour spokesmen. Our generation, and at least a few vet to come, would have to go on living under some system of industry and finance not very different from the present system. It was quite true they were on the march, and none of them knew whither they were going. "But though we are marching we must have our meals," he said; "the Labour party tells us that it sees the dim and distant spires and towers of the promised city, where each individual will find plenty and contentment. But I think that in the main these towers and spires are a mirage. But even if I thought they were real and substantial I 'should refuse to march towards them with the Labour party as at present constituted, because I think it would fail to provide adequate commissariat, and I might starve on the way." He said he believed in the initiative and efficiency of the higher ranks in the services and kadership in industry and e< mmerce to lead the country back to prosperity. He was no Socialist, but we could" not hope to correct the disharmony between revenue resources and national expenditure unless we also and proportionately sealed down the income of the rentier and the nominal value- of the debt.

It is stated by the ''Daily Express" thfit it understands that the War Office is preparing a census of motor vehicles to bs ready for any emergency at home-or abroad. This is the first census of its kind ever made. A census of suitable horses in Britain has been kept since 1919 but the development of the policy of mechanisation lias made it imperative now to have a list of motor vehicles as well.