BRITAIN SOUND.

Dunstan Times, Issue 3381, 4 July 1927, Page 7

BRITAIN SOUND.

In spite of the setbacks of last year and the enormous losses caused by the industrial troubles, Mr Churchill, in his Budget speech, waa optimistic with regal'd to the future. He pointed to the wonderful manner in which we had emerged from 1926-27, to the extraordinary relative vitality of revenue and the prospects of a natural increase, and to the sustained consuming power of the masses.

“When we reflect on what happened last year,” he said, ‘‘the prolonged paralysis of all our basic trades, a very large part of the population, about 3,600,000 wageearners and their families living, in one way or another—l purposely choose a noncontroversial phrase—without discharging any productive function; when we reflect on the highly artificial and delicate character of our commerce, and upon our dependence, beyond that of any other State, ancient or modern, on world-wide credit, on foreign imports and foreign markets, the marvel is, not that we have suffered so much, but that we have not suffered more from last year’s shocking breakdown in our island civilisation. The revenue, though mauled and wounded, has, in the main, survived. The immense number of miscellaneous and secondary manufacturers and businesses, so many of which have established themselves in the southern half of England, the fecund processes of banking, broking, and insurance, the vast sums brought into the country annually as the result of British investments abroad, have enabled us almost to keep the even tenor of our way. ‘‘The basic industries, those which were most smitten by the stoppage, were those in which employer and employed alike were hardest pressed before. Consequently, they were those on which the Exchequer counted least. The non-basic industries and businesses have been able to sustain the self-stricken areas and to supply the main revenue for the State during the stoppage. One pari of Britain, as I pointed out last winter, capable in some degree of geographical definition, has been tearing itself to pieces; the other parts, although injured, have been strong enough to bear the extra strain. If the revenue has in tho main survived, the exchange has stood like a rock. Two years ago, when we returned to the gold standard, there were many predictions and counter-predictions, just as to-day, I have no doubt, there will be many assertions and counter-assertions on the subject ; hut few, I think, would have believed that the gold standard could have been maintained through all these convulsions without a bank rate even higher than 5 per cent.; without a reserve of gold larger now than it was this time last year; and without the slightest need to touch those large precautionary American credits which were brought into existence, to safeguard the operations of the return to the gold standard. I may mention here that we never, at any time during their existence, thought of using these credits, and that I have notified the parties concerned that, on the expiry of the original term of those credits, next month, we do not propose to renew them. “Most remarkable of all, the trade of the country has flowed on in a manner scarcely conceivable. Apart from coal exports, which naturally ceased altogether, our trade has rivalled closely through many months during the coal stoppage the corresponding months of the preceding year. Undoubtedly it has suffered. The balance of exports and imports has turned still further against us; we are clearly not advancing among the peoples of the world at the pre-war rate; we arc not advancing os rapidly as .some other peoples of the .world are advancing today; but we are still advancing, and even, in this wretched year, wo have still saved, still augmented, our capital, and still retained our position, whether the war debts are included or excluded, ns the greatest creditoi’ nation ; and still retained our position as the financial centre of the world. , “Our economic vitality and financial strength are not yet impaired. They have been cruelly and needlessly starained, hut they are still intact. Our fortune is still in our hands to make or mar. Surveying the scene as a whole, it must be said that our loss, though grievous, is incomparably less, and that the resiliency and resources of Britain, though stricken, are incomparably greater than anyone a year ago would have dared to predict.”