PRESS COMMENT

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXXIII, Issue 22401, 23 April 1936, Page 11

PRESS COMMENT

WISE EXPENDITURE ARMED FORCES NEEDED SPREADING THE BURDEN By Telegraph—Press Association—Copyright LONDON. April 21 The Times says the Budget does not make pleasant reading, but the disappointment will bo cheerfully borne because the wisdom of the expenditure is universally recognised. The Government is still valiantly striving to establish a new rule of, order and justice in the world based on collective resistance to all acts of lawless aggression. Such a policy requires adequate armed forces, and Mr. Chamberlain clearly has sought to spread the increase in taxation as equitably as possiblo over the whole population. The Daily Telegraph says the Chancellor might have deferred the question of the tea duty until a decision regarding a defence loan has been made. In the alternative he might liavo reduced the £22-1,000,000 allocated to debt service by the sum ho expects to obtain from extra duty and from the increase iD the income tax. The Manchester Guardian describes the Chancellor's speech as the gravest since the war. It says his arguments for embarking on a great armaments race and the foreign policy with which it is bound up will be examined in a different light when evfcn the poorest home is taxed to meet the cost. This is clearly the first of a series of crisis Budgets, in which the canons of finance, seemingly so desperately important in the other crisis of 1931, will be regarded as of small account. LABOUR CRITICISM BUDGET LEADING TO WAR TEA DUTY OPPOSED LONDON. April 21 The speeches of members after the presentation of the Budget were very brief. The Labour leader. Major C, It. Attlc-e, said the financial position was largely due to the Government's foreign policy. The Budget would not cause enthusiasm anywhere. Major Attlee marked the resolution to enter on an extension of armaments "which will lead us into an abyss instead of an era of peace." It was a Budget which would lead to war. Both Major Attlee and Sir Archibald Sinclair, for the Liberals, complained against the increased tea duty and said it was imposing hardship on the masses. The usual financial resolutions were carried. ARMS EXPENDITURE GERMAN PRESS* COMMENT VASTNESS OF THE BURDEN BERLIN. April 21 " Surprising Armaments Demand" is the heading in the Tageblatt over an article on the British Budget. The paper says the intention clearly is to impress on the population of Britain the vastness of the armaments burden. Moreover, it, seems that the desire of the Chancellor of the Exchequer is to provide a large surplus for expendiure on armaments at the end of the next financial year. Angriff asks: " Does Britannia rule the waves?" It adds: " Who knows whether the enforced quietness of Britain in the "Mediterranean will last longer than the three y<yirs in which she hopes to complete the modernisation of her defences? Perhaps in 1939 the tune once again will bo 1 Rule Britannia.' " INCOME TAX CHANGES EFFECTS EXPLAINED LONDON, April 21 The income tax changes announced in the Budget mean that a married man with three children who is earning £SOO a year will pay £3 3s 4d in tax, which is £2 16s 8d less, while the reduction of the tax on an income of £IOOO to a man in the same situation is £4 12s 6d'. Men with higher incomes will pay slightly more. The tax falls slightly heavier on all single people, the increases ranging between 12s 6d on incomes of £SOO a year to £lB 17s 6d on incomes of £2OOO.