BRITAIN'S BURDEN

Nelson Evening Mail, Volume LXIV, 31 March 1930, Page 7

BRITAIN'S BURDEN

POST-WAR PROBLEMS COLOSSAL BUDGETS THE MANDATES "I want you to sympathise, even a little more than you do at present, with us in the Old Country in regard to the struggles we have before lis," said Sir Richard Winfrey at a Now Zealand Club luncheon in Wellington. "Our post-war problems are enormous. Britain had mandates thrown upon her as the result of the Treaty of Versailles, which are taxing her resources and are, I am afraid, taxing a great deal of the energies of British statesmen. You will have observed what has taken place recently in Palestine. Wo had hoped that our American cousins would have taken charge of Palestine and Syria. But they said: 'No; we helped you out of the mess in Europe, and now we are not going to have anything more to do with you.' " (Laughter.) He was not sure that America had not been wise in taking up that attitude. But the result was that France had "to take the mandate of Syria and Britain that of Palestine. Britain was governing Palestine according to the Balfour Note, which had recently caused a good deal of trouble; and he was afraid she was not out of the wood yet. Since he had been out of Parliament he had been visiting a number of the outposts of the Empire, and last year he had been in Kenya Colony, where ho had come to realise what a burden the British Empire had on its back. Of course, Britain had that colony before the war; but now she had taken over the whole of German East Africa —Tanganyika, as it was called —and had the mandate for governing that vast area, with millions of the coloured race upon it. Britain also had Uganda; and in these three huge areas there were as many methods of Government. Kenya was a colony with an elective Legislative Council and a Governor-General; Tanganyika was a mandated territory, and Uganda a protectorate. Just over the sea from Uganda, too, was the protectorate of Zanzibar.

PROUD OF BRITISH RACE Nobody who had not visited thoso territories coujd realise the sacrifico that British officials were making in those tropical countries; and ho had come back from Kenya prouder than ever of the British race. Instead of allowing the tribes to war with one another, Britain was teaching them to cultivate the soil. She had doctors all over those territories, ministering \o the natives,' arid' showing them' how, by sanitation and so on, they could avoid a great many of the tropical diseases; and all that work had to be paid for by the Empire. •_ Then, too, Britain, had India, and people were looking forward with great interest and- hope to the report of the Simon Commission. He trusted that its recommendations would, when carried out, satisfy, the reasonable part, at all events, !of the population of that great countiy. (Applause.)

WHEN GLADSTONE SHUDDERED

Dealing with the financial situation at Home, Sir Richard Winfrey said that Britain had paid back no less than £297,000,0000 of her war Ulebts to the United States of America; but Britain had received in reparations from Germany and in payments of Allied indebtedness to her only a total of £146,000,000, so that she was £133,000,000 short Q'n the deal; but the British people were looking as cheerful as they could about it; (Applause and laHghter.) . Britain had now an annual Budget of over £800,000,000; but he could remember the time when Mr Gladstone shuddered at the thought of a £100,000,000 Budget. * (Laughter.) As a matter of fact, although he was.not at all a rich man, the Governmont now took 1 half of his income in taxation. Yet he tried to be as cheerful as he possibly could—(applause)—and he was not quite sure that Mr Snowden was not going to put some more taxation on him before he got Home. (Laughter.) Such taxation, however, had the drawback that it made thrift not only difficult but almost not worth while. People thought that they might just as well spend their money as save it up and have.it taxed away from them. So they had got a tremendous luxury expenditure going on in the Old Country, which often appalled him.