Evening post

Evening Post, Volume CXXXVII, Issue 128, 1 June 1944, Page 4

Evening post

Thui'sds- ; j une 1} 194 4,

HOME R&JLE BEHIND THE

ARMY?

The d cu ity of giving an oppressed country , a lia tj V e Government, "while the IF crating army is still fighting in it, is ( obvious. The liberating army may be placed' in great danger if au .foority is given quiokly to a native P; /©visional Government to administer • xcently liberated territory, and if disorder arises there, particularly if such threatens military lines of communication. The safety of the army is, i'or the liberating nations, the first law. It should also be the first law for the liberated peoples, unless ' they are indifferent concerning the - immediate future of their recovered liberties. In principle, liberated peoples generally admit that the degree of restoration of liberty must be, subordinate to the liberating army's' task of assuring the defeat and expulsion of the enemy. At the same time, the keenness of liberated sections of a country to wield early native power as a means, inter alia, of destroying their native enemies, in the course of a domestic cleaning-up, is liable to blind them temporarily to the fact that the liberating army's safety is still the first law. The war must not be lost through arising from a precipitate desire of non-Fascist to destroy Fascist, or of Free French to destroy Vichyite. In Italy and in France the German still remains the principal enemy, however much some Fascists and Vichyites deserve punishment. Degrees of guilt can be better determined by deliberate procedure, and victory requires that a military policy of first things first shall prevail. Italy was an enemy country, and France is an ally who had a military collapse in 1940, when its Government (still hanging on at Vichy) signed an armistice. In 1943 Italy formed the King-Badoglio Government, pledged to carry-on the war with Germany against the Allies—a pledge broken at a convenient hour, with the result that the King-Badoglio Government and its Italian followers placed their navy on the Allies' side and became cobelligerent with the Allies. Thus the King-Badoglio Government carried with it into the Allies' camp whatever authority it possesses as a Government; and its case is not parallel with that of the French National Committee, which is a body formed in overseas France to help France's ally of 1940 (Britain). and America to liberate European France. The French National Committee has not been recognised as a provisidnal Government by Britain and the United States, and so far no by Russia. Russia, it will be reinem bered, at one stage went farther thar Britain and Franc* towards diplomatic, recognition of the King-Badoglic Government by exchanging representatives with it; but so far no suet departure has been recorded in the case of France, and there is, on thf contrary, some hope that the coming visit of General de Gaulle to Londor will lead to a settlement of the status of the French National Committee or lines acceptable in London, Washington, Moscow, and Algiers. ' If land-war in Italy is presently tc be followed by land-waiv in France, Italy—though not a political parallel with France—provides some useful experience. In January a special correspondent of "The 'Times" in the liberated heel-ankle of Italy wrote thai the King-Badoglio Government was trying to "purge the administration [oi Southern Italy] of Fascist elements without too completely disturbing the machinery of government. In the same way the King-Badoglio Government is trying to make Italian military assistance as effective as possible without dismissing every officer who rose to senior command under the Fascists, The more vocal part of the population of liberated Italy will have none oi [ this," and want "a complete revolutionary sweep;" This opposition between war-winning and revolution-ma--hurry, which has arisen in Italy, the Allies seek to avoid in France. Will war-winning be helped, or hindered, by giving the French National Committee the Governmental powers in to-be-liberated France that the Badoglic Government exercises in liberated j Italy? The peremptory tone of some, of the [ elements behind the French National Committee may be measured by reading the following declaration, pub-! lished in America, by a member of the Socialist parliamentary party of old i France, Jules Moch, now active in the French Consultative Assembly at Algiers, which claims that the French National Committee under de Gaulle |is France's Provisional Government: "Nowhere will the Vichy regime last an hour after the departure of the last German. Corsica confirms this. .. . The mayors named by Petain, his prefects, and his ministers will seek safety in flight, or, as in Corsica, pretend to a change of heart which will deceive no one. ... No Frenchman questions that, not even the servants iof Vichy. France will of course be unable to get along without a Government, but it could not, even temporarily, consent to a foreign military administration." But how could General Eisenhower accept the responsibility of defeating the Germans from a rocking boat? THE YEAR'S ACCOUNTS • The heavy burden of war expenditure is again the outstanding feature of the Public Accounts for the year ended March 31 last. During the year expenditure from the. War Expenses Account amounted to £163,161,000, as compared with £144,000,000 for the previous year, and receipts totalled £162,540,000 compared with £148,000,000 in 1942-43. As the Minister of Finance (Mr. Nash) pointed out in his last Budget, it is not possible to estimate the needs of war so far ahead with any degree of accuracy, and this is borne out by the figures now published by the Acting Minister of Finance (Mr. Sullivan). Expenditure on the Army has exceeded the estimate by just over £10,000,000, the growing importance of reverse lend-lease is shown by an expenditure of £24,453,000 as against the estimate of £20,000,000, redemption of war loans has accounted for £10,216,000, and rehabilitation, which was not specifically provided for in the Budget estimate, has involved an expenditure of £544,000. The lastmentioned item must be expected to show an increasing tendency as the Government's plans ' for reabsorbing j Service personnel into civil life (develop. On the receipts side of the War Expenses Account revenue from war taxation, transfers from, the. Con-

solidated Fund, and miscellaneous sources amounted to £57,307,000, as against the Budget estimate of £46,000,000, transactions under lendlease have accounted for £32,478,000, as against an -estimate of £40,000,000, and loans of all kinds, including national savings, have provided £72,755,000. New Zealand's position under the Memorandum of Security Agreement with Great Britain is not clear from Mr. Sullivan's statement, nor is any real light thrown on the position regarding transactions under lend-lease and reverse lend-lease. These are both matters that should be fully explained when the Budget is presented later in the year. Without more information than has so far been given under these heads it is not possible to obtain a clear picture of the country's'financial position. Both revenue and expenditure under the Consolidated Fund have exceeded Mr. Nash's estimate—revenue by over £7,000,000 and expenditure by approximately £5,000,000. The surplus on the year's working of £2,250,000 may be regarded as satisfactory, but the point will not be overlooked that New Zealand is spending for other than war purposes at a rate which would have given cause for real concern a few years ago and cannot now be regarded with complacency. It has also to be borne in mind that the cost of many items which would normally be borne by the Consolidated Fund has been transferred to the War Expenses Account. The satisfaction expressed by Mr. Sullivan over the position of the Social Security Fund should also be.subject to some qualification. Receipts, which amounted to £17,492,085, exceeded the estimate by £1,217,085, and expenditure, which amounted to £17,633,747, exceeded the estimate by £230,667. In the absence of detailed figures as to the expenditure under the various headings, it is not possible to arrive at anything but general conclusions regarding the position of the fund at present and the future outlook. One fact stands out, and that is that, as a result of the increased earnings of the great majority of workers owing to war conditions, revenue is at its highest point. The present rate of revenue* cannot be expected to continue into the postwar period. On the other hand, expenditure may be expected to show an increasing tendency. Actuarially, the scheme was based on a much lower average income rate than now obtains. There is thus every reason for caution in the future if the fears expressed by the actuary regarding the financial structure of the scheme are not to be realised. There must certainly be caution in extending benefits under the plan.