"AN AMAZING EFFORT"

Evening Post, Volume XCIII, Issue 45, 21 February 1917, Page 6

"AN AMAZING EFFORT"

What Mr. Bonar Law aptly describes as "an amazing financial effort" has just been achieved- in Britain; The subscriptions to the mew War Loan have Teached £700,000,000, and the returns ore not yet complete. This stupendous amount taken in round- figures brings the total of the British war loansraised to date up to £1,614,428,000, the first 3£ per cent, and the second 4£ per cent, loans realising £331,798,000 andi £582,630,000 respectively. Of course this £1,614,428,000 does not represent all the war borrowings of the United Kingdom." The first and second loans, Treasury bills, Exchequer bonds, U.S.A. loans, and 'war savings certificates, from Ist August, 1914, to the end of December, 1916, amounted to' £2,709,600,000. . All this lias been spent on war; and further, £772,900,000 has been contributed in revenue during the period named. The' money so raised has not been, for the ex- , elusive use of Great Britain's part in tho wai-, for by the end of .next month advances to the Dominions and Allies, it is believed, will Teach between £800,000,000 and £900,000,000.

It is difficult to lay -hold of such vast sums as these. The gigantic scale on which the war is being carried on lias made us familiar with millions of men and millions of money, but it is almost impossible to tally comprehend the true Bigiiificonco of (.his v m i< expenditure upon

effort. \ The- moral, however, is plain. From 'the German no mercy, no quarter, is to be expected.. It is literally a case of victory or disaster, especially for Britain and all that Britain stands for. The burden of debt -which the Mother Country and the Dominions will have to carry will be unthinkably heavy, but it- can be lightened. Now is the time to begin that process where it is not already begun. It is by the exercise of economy, both personal and public. There is no other .way. The drastic restriction of imports, the discouragement by severe taxation of luxuries, has already begun in the United Kingdom. Any change made is only in the direction, for the present, of intensifying the' pressure exerted. As for New Zealand, its war bill already has reached ~£15,----000,000, and the expenditure is being increased rather- than reduced. . But there is nothing to be feared providing production is increased simultaneously with the limitation of expenditure to the things that one really must have. Only so will this country, no less than the United Kingdom, be able to! meet its obligations. Eecognition of this fact, and acting upon it, will go a long way towards reducing the debt and its final discharge. Increased taxation * there must be, further sacrifice is inevitable, for things cannot be as they were before the war-debt existed. Bnt the prospects are reassuring, even at this highly critical stage, of the waT. .