"3 PER CENT. WAR"

Evening Post, Volume CXXX, Issue 156, 30 December 1940, Page 6

"3 PER CENT. WAR"

PUBLIC CONFIDENCE

COMMENT ON NEW SECURITY

(British Official Wireless.)

RUGBY, December 28

Commenting on the announcement of the Chancellor of the Exchequer of the sale of a new security to raise war funds, the "Daily Telegraph" writes:— "This latest issue serves once again to emphasise the strictness with which the authorities are adhering to their principle of a '3 per cent, war.' It is, moreover, a gratifying sign of the present state of public confidence that the Government credit stands today fairly substantially higher than it did a year ago.

"Since the start of the great savings campaign shortly after the outbreak of the war the rate of savings as indicated by the volume of investments has astonished some investors. Nevertheless, the number must greatly surpass the previous efforts. In the quarter now closing the average rate of national expenditure has risen to £11,750,000 a day, and if this rate were merely maintained the total expenditure for the financial year would be about £3,750,000,000, or £300,000,000 more than was estimated in the July Budget. Defence and A.R.P. alone will cost about £3,000,000,000, which is 50 per cent, more than was foreshadowed.

"That shows how enormous is the expansion in the cost of the war in this comparatively short period, and there is no sign that we have yet approached the limit."