TAXPAYER'S BURDEN.

Dominion, Volume 1, Issue 108, 30 January 1908, Page 5

TAXPAYER'S BURDEN.

The Duma lias already been threatened with dissolution if it withholds tho credits for naval re-building- The last Russian Budeot showed » deficit of .191 millions sterling, and tho finance Minister, M. Kokbvtecti', admitted tho ' humiliating financial position in which Russia finds herself.' It was unfair, he said, to impose'the whole burden on the taxpayer; yot he recognised that Russian credit wjig strained, and that a loan could'only be resorted to in .an extremity. If aiiy ' surplus were;obtainable from the ordinary Budget,'he strongly urged its utilisation, to; coyer extraordinary expenditure'on armaments, so as to obviate a .loan. Some • little time ago,'a writer in tho Glasrow- Herald," in announcing Russia s now navy vote',"predicted that the bulk of the money would be devoted to the construction of large and powerful units, as Russia has only one battleship to each threo possessed by France or Germany.' 1 Of armoured cruisers built and building Russia has but seven against • twentythree for :France and ten for Germany. The determination is to rotrieve the position of • former years. ■ , •>;.