MOUNTING DEMAND

Evening Post, Volume CXXIX, Issue 23, 27 January 1940, Page 7

MOUNTING DEMAND

WAR EXPENDITURE

AND INTERNAL DEFENCE

AUSTRALIAN EFFORT

(Fhun "The Post's"; Representative.! •;'-.:.•;; . / v SYDNEY, January 17.; ■Revised estimates: indicate /that Commonwealth' defence and' war expenditure jwill amount to £70,000,000 in 1939-40 alone. This: is an increase of about £8,000,000 compared with revised estimates submitted:to Parliament only six weeks ago. The total is now more than double the first: estimate for 1939----40 (£.33,137,000) prepared in f August before war began. ■.■ .

Taxation increases £o meet:part of this huge expenditure: will be announced by the Acting Treasurer (Mr. Spender) when the Federal Parliament meets in April., It is expected that"a war loan of £20,000,000 will be floated locally early next month.

. War expenditure is now being incurred at the rate of £ 6,000,000 a month. The sudden rise is due in part to the cost of the Second A.I.F. and to Australia's participation.in.the Empire air training scheme. . .

[ Apart from these factors, defence expenditure has been .rapidly expanded to meet plans for the mechanisation of the army, production of munitions, manufacture of aeroplanes, establishment of the Second A.1.F., extended militia training! and the introduction of compulsory military training:

Defence arid Avar expenditure estimates have been revised several times since the outbreak'of-War. The. magnitude of Australia's Wary effort is fully illustrated by the fact that at the begihr nirig of 1938-39 the Government decided on a defence expenditure of £43,000,000 spread over thy c years. vThis came as a shock to the people of Australia. I ; PROBABLE LOAN 5 DEMAND. The burden which x Australians, now have- to shoulder :as ; a result of the war is illustrated by a comparison, of the money spent on, defence in recent years: 1934-35, £5,350,000; ,1935-36, £6,824,000; 1936-37, £7,642,000; 1937-38, j £9,355,000; 1938-39, £13,839,000; 1939-40 j (latest ,. ', revision), approximately £70,000,000. Loans to meet the.huge expenditure- this year .will,(total apr I proximately £50,000,000.. Only a smaU amount will be raised, overseas. The remainder will be obtained from the Australian public., >~ .Mr. Spender' said it was to be expected .that the ( heavy; buiden of Vde- , fence' expenditure 'would be. ; felt, in niahy directions. . The'honouruig of war obligations was-a matter■ of paramount ", importancei and-mu^t, take precedence .over ordinary^peacetime requirements. It was also to be, expected that thereiwo.uld; be some dislocation in the financing of the public wbrks programmes: of some semi-gov-ernmental bodies, tiut, -in view of the great defence burden which the Commoriwealth was caM^ing,1 it was satisfactory that fe||pg»animes of the; semi-goyernmehtai^bdies^were being affected only sUght^^TKe..> expenditure of; large sums of money on - defence v/as counter-balancing the economic | effect of the.difficulties^ which the semigpyernmental -bbdie's wfere having in getting money with!which to; finance their works.-, v. ■'.-..' -'■ ■■ ■-" '-' .■-•'..•,•'