Northern Advocate Daily With which is incorporated the Northern Mail Daily. SATURDAY, JULY 21, 1917. REVENUE MUST BE FOUND.

Northern Advocate, 21 July 1917, Page 2

Northern Advocate Daily With which is incorporated the Northern Mail Daily.

SATURDAY, JULY 21, 1917. REVENUE MUST BE FOUND.

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the post as a newspaper.

Aii effort made in tlie House of Commons while in Committee on the Finance Bill to have the tea duty reduced from Is to 8d drew from the Chancellor of the Exchequer a retort which should sink deep down into the minds of the people (says the "Mercantile Gazette.") The Chancellor said: "Revenue must be found." The commitments of the Imperial Government, mainly on account of the war, now amount to a formidable sum, unci these obligations will continue to expand so long as the war lasts and during the period of repatriation, and possibly longer. The interest bill and the pensions bill, apart from the ordinary expenditure for maintaining the Government, must run into huge figures. We know that the pensions bill now involves £250,000 per week, and every trench raid, every affair of outposts, every battle adds to the amount. The interest bill cannot yet be defined. We know that the national debt now exceeds £300,000,000 which at ■I per cent, means £120,000,000. So that even on present calculations the amount to be found annually for interest and pensions is approximately £133,000,000. The pre-war revenue of Britain was £206,000,000, but such a revenue would never suffice to meet the obligations arising out of the war and the ordinary expenditure of the country. Britain is at present staggeringunder heavy taxation, and the limit has not been reached. It may be necessary to impose fresh taxation, and the heavy burdens must remain long after the war is over. When peace is restored, the munition workers with their high wages must revert to the ordinary business of life. Excess profits must vanish, and so must the excess profits tax, leaving a big gap to be filled up by obtaining revenue from other sources. It must be obvious to everyone that the people in Great Britain must continue to - practise the strictest economy—the economy to which they are becoming inured through the stress of war.' ' The people will have less to spend, and that fact must not be lost sight of. There will, of course, be no collapse. Certain industries must be kept going, but the general level of activity cannot be as great as it is now or as great as it was prior to the war—at least for some time. What applies to Great Britan applies with relative force to New Zealand. Our war debt is piling up, and so is our interest bill and our pension bill. We know from Ministerial statements that fresh taxation is to be imposed this year, and that every source that will yield revenue will be taxed. Those two bills must be paid whatever happens, and it is quite apparent that we must look forward to a long period of almost penal taxation. Then again the prices of our primary products must fall considerably below their present level, for the simple reason that the consumers at the other end will be unable to afford fancy prices. The only product that seems likely to be in fairly active demand is wool, and oven with respect to tins 'commodity it would be rash to venture upon any

prediction. As foi* nieat, butter, and I cheese, there is no such likelihood of a great demand. The mere fact that ' huge quantities of these commodities are stored both here and in Australia retirees the probability of prices holding. The moment peace is declared there will be a slump in the values of these articles, for such vast quantities will be released at all points of produtitibli and conaumption that the

markets will be glutted. With a re- : duced income and heavy taxation one can easily see that things must hap- | pcn —things that are not pleasing to contemplate. The time to prepare for this very probable contingency is now. The people should be urged to save every penny that thGy can piissibly save, to forego iiixuries, and to deny themselves the pleasure of frivolous expenditure. But there is no jjolitician in the , country cduragedus enough to speak in plain terms to the people. Finesse enters largely into the composition of the politician 6f to-day, and he prefers to takfe the iine of least resistance, because it is more profitable than telling the honest truth. And so our people are told that there is sure to be a good demand for the primary products of this country, but not at the inflated war prices. This optimism pleases the people, buoys them up, and encourages them to go on spending money ex* . travagantly and foolishly, and naturally they think the politician who takes such an optimistic view of the situation Must be right. Tα predict what is going to happen in any department of human activity is a very hazardous matter, because rif the quick chah'ges that are happening and the necessity for equally quick changes of thought* and sentiment. The past can afford no guide to the future. ''War is hell,'' as Mr Massey- said in the House last week, but the present war by its magnitude transcends all "hells" that we can imagine. A new world will come into being after the* war, and men and women will think clifferently and act differently, industrial life will see , riiaiiy ' changes of a radical nature, and so through the long list of human activities. Those who are economising today, those who are saving money for the unknown contingencies of the immediate future, must .be , in a better position to grapple with the circumstances than those who have nothing put by. The gospel of economy should be the daily topic, the daily sermon, of every man of any note iii the coiii-

munity,