BRITAIN’S FINANCES

Evening Star, Issue 24006, 3 October 1941, Page 6

BRITAIN’S FINANCES

AVOIDING INFLATION DANGER NEWSPAPER URGES MORE DRASTIC CONTROL LONDON, Oct. 2. “ How ranch longer will Sir Kingsley Wood’s methods for checking inflation be effective?” asks the ‘Daily Mail,’ in a leader. “We are approaching the time when enormous pressure of new money will force up the prices of goods still available unless far more drastic control is introduced. Three months ago we were spending £lO,250,000 each day, but now we are spending £13,000,000. The vast animal total makes the record of the last war look almost like cash, and the strain on our economy is colossal. Sir Kingsley Wood gave no clear indication how the danger of inflation might be averted. He relies on taxation, price control, and rationing, but none of these expedients has gone far enough. There remain fruitful sources of direct taxation which can still be tapped. Price control is applied to only -a limited range of goods, and rationing scarcely ventures beyond the scope of necessities. The Government has not a policy to check the rise of prices, then a rise in wages, then a rise itt prices.” The ‘ Daily Mail ’ adds that a more vigorous drive should be made to produce surplus cash by means of savings. This should form the framework of a policy which must be adopted if Britain is to escape ruin. Tighter control in prices, wages, and surplus, money is vital to financial health, and everyone niust live harder and do with less of everything.

IRAN LEGATIONS

EXPULSION OF STAFFS (British Official Wireless.) RUGBY, Oct. 2. Figures ■of the legation staffs expelled from Iran were revealed to-day. The German Legation staff left the country on September 17, and numbered 40. Four hundred and thirteen German women and children also returned to Germany the same day. They were forbidden by the German Minister to remain with their men folk, who had been interned, and, therefore, were forced to return to Germany whether they liked it or not. The Italian Legation staff, which numbered 30, left on September 19, and the Italian community departed the same day, . The Rumanian, Bulgarian, and Hungarian Legation staffs also left Iran on September 17.

AMERICAN SHIPS

NAVY PROVIDING “ PROTECTION " NEW YORK, Oct. 1. Colonel Knox, at a Press conference said no reports had been received of any new incidents involving the Atlantic fleet. The Battle of the Atlantic was now very quiescent. The word “ convoy ” was obsolete, and in describing the task of the United States fleet he preferred the word protection.” The navy was providing whatever protection was needed anywhere.

CIVIL DISOBEDIENCE

FEWER PERSONS IN PRISON (British Official Wireless.) (Rec. noon.) RUGBY, October 2. The number of persons undergoing imprisonment in connection with the civil disobedience campaign in India has steadily fallen since May, and stood at 9,117 on August 1, said Mr L. S. Amerv in a House of Commons reply.

LEND AND LEASE AID

BRITISH MATERIALS IN RETURN (Rec. 2 p.m.) WASHINGTON, October 2. The United States is receiving from Britain rubber, tin, and 12 other vital materials in return for lend and lease aid. says the United Press of America. Such shipments will continue throughout the emergency and thereafter until the lend and lease account has been settled.

GANGSTERS’ WEAPONS

FOR USE AGAINST NAZIS STRANGE SHIPMENT FROM UNITED STATES (Rec. 1 p.'ra.) NEW YORK, Oct. 2. The strangest cargo from the United States to Britain under the Xend and Lease Act, consisting of sawed-off shotguns and machine guns seized by the Government from gangsters, is being prepared for shipment, reports the ‘ World Telegram’s ’ Washington correspondent. This gangland artillery _ is being supplied for the British civilian defence forces. Thus, if invasion comes to England, the invaders may be met with weapons made in Germany. The collection includes some of the finest German Mauser and Luger revolvers. An official source stated that many of the guns had been associated with some of the biggest front-page crimes in recent years.

LIST OF VICTIMS

AUSTRALIAN AIR SQUADRON'S GOOD RECORD (Rec. 12.30 p.m.) LONDON, Oct. 2. For the second successive month an Australian fighter squadron tops the list in the largest number of enemy planes downed. The squadron last month downed 18 planes, 12 of which crashed in two days. The New Zealand squadron in the same wing downed six planes-in September.,