Evening Post. FRIDAY, MAY 11, 1934. A STARTLING SURPLUS

Evening Post, Volume CXVII, Issue 110, 11 May 1934, Page 6

Evening Post. FRIDAY, MAY 11, 1934. A STARTLING SURPLUS

The "Round Table," which ever since the appearance of its first number nearly twenty-four years ago has invited superlatives with' an astonishing consistency, provides no exception in its current issue. When it was launched 'in 1910 it was ,as "A Quarterly Review of the Politics of the British Commonwealth," and how broadly that function has been interpreted may be. inferred from the fact | that two; of ..the most striking articles in ■ the new "number deal with "The United States: Recovery and Reform" and "The Church in the Third Reich." While "the Politics of the British Commonwealth" tend to be limited by each Dominion in a steadily narrowing and intensifying spirit of parochialism to its own domestic affairs, Britain is compelled to broaden her outlook year by year and to become more and' more a citizen of the world. But there is certainly no need to fear that a worldwide outlook is making the "Round Table" too cosmopolitan. Its last number inevitably includes a third international article on "The Empire, the League, and Security," to which, just as inevitably, the first place is assigned. But a bill of fare which includes ''Shipping: An Empire Problem" and "Social and Industrial Reform," "The Irish Free State: Quo Vadis?" and "Northern Ireland and Partition," the.problems of Newfoundland and India, and the usual contributions .from.the other Dominions, cannot be said to'ignore the purposes for which the magazine was founded. Orithe contrary, with the exception of thct>vo. Great War numbers, the one now before us has probably attained an all-round excellence unsurpassed by any of its predecessors. But the pleasure with which we recei%'ed it has been clouded by the almost simultaneous report of the death of the editor who had served,the magazine so faithfully and so efficiently for many yea Vs. Mr. John Dove has bequeathed a fitting memorial of himself in the quality of his last number, and it is none the less characteristic because it is anonymous. The work itself was his inspiration. Where the credit went was no affair of his. { With Mr. de Valera's warning that the much-boasted British market no longer exists" fresh in our ears, and the still more recent particulars of Jus surprising Budget, it is natural for one to turnYor guidance to the "Round Table's" Irish article. Since the. almost complete divorce of the politics of Southern Ireland from British politics that was effected by the Irish Treaty of 1921 the British Press has paid so little continuous attention to Irish affairs, that the reader overseas finds this quarterly record and critique highly convenient, not to say indispensable. Among the-financial and economic difficulties of the Free State the first place is given, in this article,. to the Government's loan policy.' The fate of his-Fourth •National'.;Loan of £6,000,000, bearing interest' at 3£ per cent, and issued at 98 per cent." is described as "ihe.most serious financial embarrassment that has yet befallen, Mr. dec Valera's Government.'': The;three previous loans of the series had been issued by the Gosgrave Government, and' all were, over-subscribed.» The new-loan was apparently issued on the 'assumption that the credit of the Free State was still as good as it was thejvbut more, than half of, the loan" remained in the hands of the Irish banks which had underwritten it. The moral of this poor response is confirmed by the trade .figures; The general decline of the country's toital tirade was continuous and striking, as the following figures ' show:—l93o, £102,521,000; ■ 1931, £87,532,000; 1932, £69,514,000; 1933, £55,440,000. Within the same four years the annual adverse balance of trade had increased from £11,031,000 to £16,138,000. •'Germany's contribution to this adverse balance was astonishing. The value of the goods she had sold to the Free State^ in 1933 was £1,757,000, and she had taken Jess than 10 per cent, of that amount— £171,074 worth—in return. At the same time, .says the "Round Table" writer, "Great Britain continues to be virtually our only customer, taking 92 per cent, of our exports, as against 8 per cent, to all, other countries." Mr. de Valera's denunciation of "the much-boasted British market" might surely have been extended to the much-boosted German market which has so signally disappointed him. The "Round Table's" contributor finds it "hard to envisage anything but national bankruptcy unless the dispute with England is settled,, and of this there is no sign whatever."- It is, however, but fair to add that he does' not exempt England from blame. Writing of the flourmillers' troubles, he says: British imports will be regulated by a quota system in retaliation for the quota imposed on Irish fat cattle entering England. And so the vicious circle of economic attack and counterattack revolves, while the man 'in the street is left wondering if there are any statesmen left in theso islands. The particulars of Mr. McEntee's third Budget which were cabled from Dublin yesterday provide more cheerful reading than the progress of the tariff war, which, though the Free State is obviously the chief sufferer, is seriously injuring Britain also. The Finance Minister's announcement of a surplus of

£1,202,000 is said to have created a surprise, but no attempt is made to explain it, and some of the particulars that might have enabled us .to apply some sort of a check ourselves are missing. If a budgetary surplus represented profit the Minister would have been entitled to hearty congratulations, but it really represents miscalculation, and the nature of the miscalculation, and whether it was | deliberate or not, are matters left open to conjecture. But it at any rate puts Mr. McEntee in the happy, position of being able both to reduce taxation and to increase the expenditure on social services. When his party took office it was on a promise to reduce taxation by not less than £2,000,000 a year. What it actually did was to increase it by nearly £4.000,000 a year. Two of the most important items in this addition,were the raising of the income tax from 3s 6d to 5s in the pound and the imposition of afresh duty of 4d per lb on lea. The reduction of the tea duty by 4d there-' fore only leaves it as. the present Government found it, and there are to be some new duties, totalling £150,000. The reduction of 'the income tax by 6d leaves it still Is higher than the Government found it. An income tax of 4s 6d is still a pretty solid affair.

The estimates for the current year are also surprising. Despite his large surplus, Mr. McEntee- is now budgeting for a far. larger deficit. His estimated revenue of £28.972.000 is about £1,000,000 ghort of the realised revenue of last year. His estimated expenditure of £36.067.000 is nearly £5,00(1000 higher than last year's estimate. The £7,212,000 that will be needed to .make ends meet will be borrowed, yet the Minister concludes with the boast that "the Free State'is stronger financially than when the Government took office"! •-.■'•