BUILDING UP ECONOMIC STRENGTH

Nelson Evening Mail, Volume LXXIII, 29 January 1940, Page 6

BUILDING UP ECONOMIC STRENGTH

IMPORTANCE STRESSED IN BRITAIN rßritish Official Wireless) RUGBY, 27th January. Commenting on the speeches of the chairmen of British banks, delivered at annual meetings, the “Daily Telegraph” to-day stresses the unanimity with which the importance of building up the British economic strength was emphasised and says: “Our British economic strength will only tell decisively in our favour when it has been fully mobilised for war purposes. “This means two things: First, a scaling-up of our national income to the absolute maximan by utilising e\ery available unit of capital and labour, and, secondly, allocation of the maximum practicable proportion of that enhanced income to the requirements of the war.” It continues: “While not overlooking the part to be played by taxation and rationing, they all emphasised the vital importance of saving on the part of the public if inflation and its attenarnt disturbance is to be avoided. “Two of them, Mr Reginald McKenna, of the Midland Bank, and Sir N Barclay, of the District Bank, even went so far as to countenance compulsory saving as an ultimate expedient, but the former righly admitted that public opinion is not ripe for so drastic a departure, while the latter left no doubt as to his preference for the voluntary principle.”