THE WAR BURDEN

Hawera & Normanby Star, Volume LXXVIII, Issue LXXVIII, 11 June 1919, Page 5

THE WAR BURDEN

STATEMENT BY MR MYERS

DEBTS AND ASSETS

(BY TELEGRAPH— PRESS ASSOCIATION.;

WELLINGTON, June 10. the Hon. A. M. Myers, Acting-Min-ister of Finance, referring to the large addition to the national debt accrued during the war, and to the corresponding increase in the annual charges thereon, said the loans raised in New Zealand since August 1, 1914, amount to some £55,000,000, whilst those raised in London during the same period a^-g-'gate £26,000,000, thus making together an increase in the national debt during the war of some £81,000 000 ihe additional charge per annum by way of interest and sinking fund on such an increase in our indebtedness amounts approximately to £4,000,000. ..he war loans raised during the war tctal some £69,000,000, of which £43,----000,000 were raised internally and £26----000,000 at Home. The total national debt was now roughly some £170 per head of our population.

Taking a very conservative estimate, our national wealth amounts to some £400 per head, and the national income to over £55 per head, and with deposits in the banks of about £72 per head of population, there is no question as to our ability to meet our war obligations if all classes of the community will unite in preserving the stable economic conditions.

As regards the savings of the people of this country, a comparison of the returns, published by the various post office savings banks throughout the world discloses the fact that New Zealand is an easy first in this respect, with total deposits of £30 per head of population in the post olfice savings bank alone. The corresponding figures for Australia and United Kingdom are £23 4s and £5 7s respectively. The deposits in all savings banks in this country have increased from £19,000,000 in 1914, to £33,000,000 in 1918. It must be understood, of course, that the above figures are given in round sums for convenience of comparison.