The Hawera Star. FRIDAY, FEBRUARY 14, 1930, THE COST OF WAR

Hawera Star, Volume XLIX, 14 February 1930, Page 6

The Hawera Star.

FRIDAY, FEBRUARY 14, 1930, THE COST OF WAR

Ohlßtired every evening by b o’elook in iiifwera. Manaia. Kaupokonui. Otakeho. Be' Pihaina. Opunake. Normanby, Okai-a-.va, Kltham, Ngaere, Mangatoki; Kaponga Awatuna, Te Kiri. Mahoe. Lowgarth, Manutahi, Kakaramea, Alton, ITurleyville, Patea. Whenuakura, Waverley, Mokoia. Whakamara, OUangai, Mtremere. Phaser Roa<J Bnd Ararata

' The best argument for peace and disarmament is the cost of war in lives and in human suffering. The next best is the cost in money'. To-day there are adults who may be more easily impressed in favour of peace plans by the financial argument, they having come to maturity too late to appreciate the sad I burdens of war as they are understood , by those who carried a full share of responsibility during the four years of the Great War. Mr Phillip Snowden's recent recital of the staggering figures ' of the British war debt should do some-i | thing to shock his hearers into some | sort of realisation of the enormous cost , of war and the appalling burden it iloaves in its trail for the taxpayers of succeeding -years. It seems to have been the object of the Chancellor of the Exchequer to put before the people on the other side of the Atlantic a clear statement of the financial burdens the British people have had to carry as a result of the war, and the heavy additions made necessary by the lack of agreement in the matter of limitation of armaments. In Great Britain little is now heard of the war debt problems. The country has entered into agreements with regard to them, and .

throughout there has been no suggestion of repudiation, although some people have” hoped that the chief creditor might make some move in the direction of revision. In the United States, howI ever,. the questions arising out of the settlements are still being discussed. The latest edition of the "Yale Review ’ ’ contains a lengthy article surveying the various agreements ,and it is interesting to note the line of approach to the settlement with Great Britain. The writer states that it is becoming more widely recognised that "should America to-day cancel the entire British debt, the British taxpayer would not benefit. Under the Balfour Note principle, England in turn must reduce its claims against its war debtors and in the end against Germany.” That may be so, but there seems to be room for revision of' the debts which Britain incurred in the United States not for her own purposes but for her Allies. The "Yale Review” contends that the debt payments constitute "nothing unusually large” in the world of finance, but the figures given by Mr Snowden should be sufficient to convince the people of the United States that they do constitute a serious burden on the British taxpayer. Since the debt was funded Great "Britain has paid the United States £224,994,000, but the principal owing has been reduced by only £34,800,000, the balance being for interest. And that must go on for many decades. These facts and figures, in themselves, are sufficient to justify the endeavours that are being made to relieve th,e burden by reducing naval armaments.