LATE NEWS

Evening Post, Volume LXXXIX, Issue 146, 22 June 1915, Page 8

LATE NEWS

AN APPEAL TO THE PATRIOTIC USE OF GIGANTIC FINANCIAL RESOURCES TO CARRY THE WAR TO A SUCCESSFUL ISSUE. (By Telegraph.— Press Association.— Copyright.) (Received June 22, 1.17 p.m.) LONDON, 21st June. The Chancellor of the Exchequer (Mr. Reginald M'Kenna), in presenting tho Financial Statement, appealed to the patriotism of the country to use its gigantic financial resources to enable Great Britain and her Allies to carry on the war to a successful issue. In the earlier stages of the war the Bank of England, with a Government guarantee, made advances to accepting houses and others to enable them to meet their bills. Liabilities in this amounted to £120,000,000, but that liability had now been reduced to well under £50,000,000. He now proposed to pay off the bank from the surplus of £80,000)000 it had and thus leave the bank free to watch over the exchanges and protect the country's gold reserves. ISSUE OF TREASURY BILLS Mr. M'Kenna. continued : "We have had already issued £235,000,000 in Treasury bills. There were two objections to an indefinite issue of bills : firstly, they had a habit of falling due when it might be inconvenient to find the money ; secondly, although the distinction might be fine, we borrowed the bankers' and not the public's money. We wanted money in a way that we were not obliged to repay during the course of the war. The loan would give this advantage, also : it would have the effect of assisting foraign exchange* Consols, had depreciated almost to the point of being unsaleable. The Government was bound to afford relief in the interests of the commercial community. A sudden drop in Consols would entail ruin and bankruptcy to many, and this the State was bound to avert." The Government, said Mr. M'Kenna, thought' it prudent not to fix the amount of the loan. He reminded the people that every effort made was not only necessary to carry on the wap, but to bear fruit enabling us to maintain our financial pre-eminence when the war was over. However long the war lasted there is the future, and he did not want to see it crippled by neglect of prudence and economy. He who subscribed now would be doing an act of mercy and a benefit to himself and his country. He who saved to subscribe would be better able to bear the strain after the war. (Cheers.) If consols were all converted that would mean tho application of at least four hundred millions to the new loan. The methods of issue would be arranged to meet every class and every purse. He hoped all would curtail customary expenditure and subscribe to the loan. Mr. Asquith announced that a Bill postponing the elections for a year would be introduced forthwith.