The Sun TUESDAY, JANUARY 4, 1915. "CONSCRIPTION OF WEALTH."

Sun (Christchurch), Volume II, Issue 593, 4 January 1916, Page 6

The Sun TUESDAY, JANUARY 4, 1915. "CONSCRIPTION OF WEALTH."

As a correspondent whose letter we publish to-day notes, we are hearing a great deal about the need in New Zealand for the conscription of wealth, together with the eonscribing of men for the Expeditionary Forces. "Conscription of wealth" litis been the slogan of a large section of the Labour world ever since it was suggested thai the day would come when men must volunteer for service or be fetched. That the idea is becoming infeclious may be seen from the fact that quite a number of business men of Ghristchurch have joined in the demand for the conscription of wealth. Several have written letters to the newspapers, insisting most virtuously on

the war profits being commandeered , by the Government —they do not put il so harshly, but their suggestion can have no other meaning. A Labour section urges that the Goj vernment should appropriate the I swelling surpluses—how, it does not I mention—not because that section has any idea of the wealth being used to assist the cause of the Empire, but because conscription of men may be necessary, and, on general principles, the "other fellow" should suffer compulsion also. Those more or less leisured citizens who are asking for a somewhat similar appropriation—by a severe diffcrenjlial taxation, presumably—ask it for I another reason. They are perhaps ; imbued with the idea that, having | more money than il usually possesses, New Zealand should apply : its available surplus capital to pay for pensions and allowances, and, ! generally, to expedite the business of war. But how? No feasible scheme has yet been supplied by these I Ciilics. It is admitted that many i people who have been enriched by i the war have been indecently selfish in hanging on to their profits. The i war tax has made but comparatively Ismail difference to them. But the ; struggle is not yet over, it is inevii table that our steadily-increasing expenditure will have to be met by increased taxation, and, even after peace is concluded, this will obtain. ;In imposing that taxation the Government cannot possibly overlook the favoured few who have been so generously advantaged by the Continental conflict. Those who have most must pay most when the national bills are to be met. If the advocates for the "conscription of the nation's wealth" are really desirous of having that wealth devoted to assisting the Dominion and England, what belter way is there than ■ by pressing on the Government the necessity for a reduction of borrowing in London, and launching another local loan wherewith to meet current expenses'? The war loan was over subscribed. We are participating in the bleeding while process of financially-embarrassed England to the tune of .€(5,000,000 per annum. We have not abated our luxuries in the least. Our national liabilities are serious enough now, as it is, and in the depression that will follow after the war- they will press much more hardly on us. Why not, then, begin a policy of self-support, of living for a while on our own fat? The less we borrow abroad while Ihe war continues the less we will be called on

to pay when a settlement is effected. There is ample loanable capital available in New Zealand for home needs, and there is no reason why that capital should not he lent to the Government, even as was the case with the war loan. There could he no saner way of inculcating thrift and .self-reliance than this. A large number of small farmers and business men can, with care, show cause for exemption under the present system of taxation. If another Government loan were floated, these people would probably regard the venture as a good speculation, and invest their savings therein. For the Government the easier method of obtaining the use of the surplus wealth of Ihe community appears to Ik that of offering to the public more Government stock. 1

II is highly significant that the financial authorities of America declare that the extraordinary depreciation of German currency, combined with the scarcity of food, is a certain indication that Germany

| is tottering, and is nearer defeat than Britain imagines. This impression, | taken in conjunction with the Amsterdam message announcing a furjther drop in the exchange value of the German and Austrian money i standards, reducing German values jto 30 per cent, and the Austrian to i 10 per cent, below normal, is suffijeient proof that the talk of Gerj many's exhaustion is not mere surimise. But if further proof is needed [one has only to look at the columns of latest English newspapers to see ; news collected from neutral countries and from Austria and Germany 'showing the straits to which the enemy has been reduced in the matter of food and materials, and, in collating these l reports with the persistent rumours of a desire for peace emanating from Germany, one finds good grounds for belief that the strain upon the Central Powers is rapidly ' approaching breaking point. A fort- ' night ago we published a cable mes- | sage quoting an evidently inspired | leading article which appeared in an i Austrian newspaper controlled by i Count Tisza, the Prime Minister of Austria-Hungary, and in that article | were these significant words: "How I do the French and British know that i the attempt to regain lost territories | by means of peace terms would not !be successful. Have they troubled to I ask?" The whole point is that now, while the enemy holds territory with j which he can bargain for terms, is I the lime for him to make peace adI vantageously.