THREE PER CENT. WAR

Dominion, Volume 34, Issue 81, 30 December 1940, Page 7

THREE PER CENT. WAR

High State Of Confidence In Government (British Official Wireless.) (Received December 29, 7 p.m.) RUGBY. December 28. Commenting on the Chancellor’s announcement, the “Daily Telegraph” writes: “This latest issue serves once again to emphasize the strictness with which the authorities are adhering to their principle of a ‘three per cent, war.’ It is, moreover, a gratifying sign of the present state of public confidence that the Government credit stands' today fairly substantial!,' higher than it did a year ago. “Since the start of the great savings campaign shortly after the outbreak of, the "war the rate of savings as indicated by the volume of investments astonished some investors. Nevertheless, the number must greatly surpass the previous efforts. In the quarter now closed the average rate of national expenditure has risen to £11,750,000 dailv, and if this rate were metely maintained the total expenditure for the financial year would be about £3,750,000,000. or £300,000,000 more than was estimated in the July Budget Defence and A.R.P. alone will cost about £3,000,000,000, which is 50 per cent, more than was foreshadowed. “That shows how enormous is the expansion in the cost of the. war in this comparatively short period, and there is no sign that we have yet approached the limit.”