STANDING STRAIN

Gisborne Herald, Volume LXVIII, Issue 20655, 8 September 1941, Page 6

STANDING STRAIN

BRITISH FINANCES HEAVY COST OF WAR CREDITS FOR RUSSIA Elec. Tel. Copyright—United Press Assn.) (British Official Wireless.) Iced. 30 a.m. RUGBY, Rent. 7. The financial position of Britain is landing up well to the strain of the ■•:tw cost of war, said the Chancellor ; the Exchequer, Sir Kingsley Wood, t Edinburgh. While expressing confidence that ,! if ,e could avoid the perils of inflation v-a should be able to carry on successuliy during the present financial year ,'ithc.it recourse to further taxation,” he Chancellor gave a warning that, ■\ order to reach the objective that -ad been set for voluntary savings, fill! greater efforts, were required dur:ig tiie next few months. “Recently we have been spending '.12.500.000 daily, cf which £10,500,000 -,as been on war purposes,” said Sir Gngslev. "At no time have the considerations of finance been permitted -i hamper or retard our efforts. As hose efforts develop still further and -,,-e reach our full offensive strength, if nereased monetary provision is repaired. there will be no financial sacrifice we shall not be prepared to make. Heavy Burdens Accepted “We have willingly imposed on our•elves the heaviest financial burdens -net fer our own account alone but or the common cause cf freedom and bistice. There arc no citizens in any country who now voluntarily bear ,ucii hcavv, almost crushing, taxation is these of Britain. There are not only our own financial needs. There ire. in particular, those of our brave Russian allies to whom we have undertaken to give all possible help. They tave told us they would not wish any ouch financial help to be provided as t gift, but have asked for credit in so far as the help which we give them s not matched by the supplies they tend us. To this we have most willingly agreed, and no monetary limit vi) 1 be placed on this assistance which we so gladly give to Russia. "Besides drastic taxation, we have aken many painful but necessary steps to meet the essential daily expenditure of the forces. For essential naterials and equipment from abroad, we depend mainly upon reserves of told and foreign exchange which we held at the beginning of the war. We have controlled all foreign exchange Transactions. We have requisitioned foreign securities held by our people, -specially securities having dollar -alue and. for some time, we have been selling such securities and using he dollar proceeds to meet our needs in the United States. U.S. Loan on Securities “Our holdings of saleable securities have not been sufficient, however, tc neet those needs and we have had to turn- to less readily marketable assets, "t would not have been easy to sell hese on satisfactory terms, but the \merican Government has come again :o our aid by agreeing to lend us on :he security of various dollar investnents over 100,000,000 dollars. “The most striking and far-reaching neasure of help, which the United States is giving us, is the supply o naterials and equipment of all kind; older the Lease-arid-Lend Act. These not only assure us of the materials which arc vital t< jur war effort. but have also removed serious difficulties o. payment which would otherwise have faced us. We still have large dolla: liabilities to meet in America, chicflp for materials ordered before the Geasc-and-Lend Act came into operadon and the need to husband oui dollar resources must remain. “We must never forget the part the Empire is playing financially in the var effort. For the Dominions and India, as for ourselves, the training md arming of their troops has given rise to domestic and financial probems which have called for great sacrifices. Canada is bearing an added burden by making available a large proportion of the dollars required for mr purchase of essential materials fhore. The Governments and the peoples of the colonies, large and small, have been freely making use oi gifts and loans, without interest, and joined successfuly. in our savings campaign. I would desire again to express * iio thanks cf the House for these most generous contributions."