BRITAIN’S WAR FINANCES

Press, Volume LXXVIII, Issue 23740, 11 September 1942, Page 5

BRITAIN’S WAR FINANCES

COMMONS PASS VOTE OP. £1,000,000,000 ■ (8.0. W.) RUGBY, Sept 9. Asking for a further vote of credit of £1,000,000.000 for the prosecution of the war, the Chancellor of the Exchequer (Sir Kingsley Wood) informed the House of Commons that the war so far had cost £10,000,000,000. Although the war savings movement had been a great success, more than £4,000,000,000 having been raised, there was an urgent necessity for-, 9 "'further reduction in personal expenditure or the strong financial front would be jeopardised. , The vote was passed by the Hodge. The newi credit asked for, said Sir Kingsley, made a total of £3,000,000,000 in votes of credit during the financial year, and a total of £11,050,000,000 since the beginning' of the war. During recent weeks war expenditure had averaged £12,250,000 daily, made up of £10,250,000. on the fighting and supply services and £2,000,000 on other misbel. laneous war Services. Compared with June these figures showed an increase of £500,000 daily for the fighting and supply services, which continued steadily to increase in this vital part of the cost of the war; but as Britain approached nearer full capacity production, the rate of expenditure did not continue to increase as rapidly as it had done in the past. The. total Budget expenditure had grown from £3,884.000.000 in 1940-41 to an estimated £5,286,000,000 for the current year. The increase in the physical war effort was shown by the fact that whereas in 1940 Government expenditure on goods and services absorbed 44 per cent, of the national resources, the corresponding figure for 1942 would probably be about 54 . per cent. “Whereas we financed by taxation 35 per cent, of our total Budget expenditure in 1940-41, this year we are finding in taxation 45 per cent, of an expenditure which has increased by onethird on the 1940 figures,” said the Chancellor. Counteracting Inflation “Oftr taxation policy," he continued, “has been much more drastic in this war than the last, and it certainly has been of inestimable benefit in counteracting inflationary, tendencies.” Dealing with war savings, the Chancellor outlined the success of the national savings certificates scheme. “There is nb ground for complacency, however,” he said. “There is still an urgent necessity and scope for a further reduction in personal expenditure and more saving. If we fail to do this we shall be jeopardising the strong financial front we have built and also prejudicing our hopes and prospects for the post-war period. - . "The great and successive sums which Parliament has voted for the war should be regarded as a contribution to the common pool of the United Nations. Lease-lend, as President Roosevelt has said, got rid of the dollar sign. By that single stroke of policy the whole war finance between the. United Nations was placed on a new basis. “We have not been backward in following this example. We have furnished military supplies to our Allies in Russia and China without question of payment, and now lease-lend itself is no longer one way. The American forces in Britain asked for accommodation, supplies, labour, and transport, and we gave that as reciprocal aid. They have received what they needed in the British Dominions and colonies, and British shipping is at their disPC “To use Mr Roosevelt’s words, we are aiming at the distribution of the financial costs of the war, which means that no nation is to grow rich from the war effort of its allies, and the money cost of the war is to fall according to the rule of equality of sacrifice.”

DEATH OF SAMOAN HIGH CHIEF

(Rec. 7 p.m.) APIA, Sept. 9; The death occurred on Sunday ot Tuatagaloa, high- chief of the Falealili district of Upolu. He was believed to be over 80 years of age. Tuatagaloa was Faipule of that district from 1919 until his death. He was a prominent worker for the health and education of Samoans, and he gave land in Poutasi, his own village, for such purposes. This is now the centre for such services. Throughout the Mau agitation he remained loyal to the Administration, and he frequently worked for reconciliation with opposition elements. He was also a member of the London Mission Society Council. British Generals Honoured.—A Gazette announces the appointment as Commanders of the Order of the Bath of Lieu-tenant-General W. H. E. Gott—since killed in action in North Africa —Lieutenant-General Charles Willoughby Norrie, Major-General R. B. Scobie, and Major-General I. P. de Villiers.—London, September 9.