PAYING FOR THE WAR.

New Zealand Herald, Volume LVI, Issue 17139, 19 April 1919, Page 8

PAYING FOR THE WAR.

FINANCES OF DOMINION. GREATER PRODUCTION URGED

The financial position of the Dominion and the inroads made upon the national wealth by the demands of the war formed the subject of a statement by &he ActingMinister for Financo, the Hon. Arthur M. Myers, on Thursday.

" By an authoritative source." said llr. Myers, " I observe that the estimated national wealth of the United Kingdom is some £18,000,000,000. Thirty-four per cent, of thi5£6,065,000,000 — been expended by Britain on the war. The national income is estimated at some £2,400,000,000 per annum, 60 that Britain may be said to have mortgaged between two and threo years' income. Making a similar comparison in regard to New Zealand, taking the pre-war estimate, approximately our national wealth aggregates some £400,000,000, about 15 per cent, of which—£6l,ooo,ooo—has already been applied to meeting our war obligations. Our national incomo is estimated to be some £55,000,000, so that to the present we have spent something over one year's income on the war. The deadweight debt incurred during the war cannot yet be definitely stated, for pension liabilities, cost of repatriation, gratuities, and allowances, etc., will continue for many years to come. The fact remains, however, that we have made a heavy drain on our resources, and ft. is incumbent upon us to set to work to refill the gap, always bearing in mind that any dislocation of industry or capital would defeat our object by the creation of another and perhaps larger drain in another direction. Every effort must be made to develop the resources of the country, applying scientific methods to our primary and secondary industries, to the end that we may increase our producftion to the greatest possible extent."