GLEANINGS

Te Awamutu Courier, Volume 59, Issue 4219, 4 December 1939, Page 8

GLEANINGS

FROM HERE AND THERE. THE ATTACK ON FINLAND. (By Ploughman.) The attack upon the decent and hard working people’ of Finland raises a problem that is serious enough for the Finns, and which may prove to be serious for us also. What part is Germany playing in connection with the schemes of the Soviet? Many explanations present themselves but two at least are worthy of. consideration. It could be suggested that Germany is so hard pressed that she has no alternative but to 'submit to the schemes of Stalin. There may be something in this view, but it makes no allowance for the cleverness and the cunning of the Nazi leaders. It must be remembered that Germany cannot hope to extent westwards unless she can defeat both France and England. She could extend eastwards if she could overcome Russian resistance. The latter problem would be easier for Germany than the former. This leads us |to ,;a, second alternative.. Possibly» tlie*' Germhn ‘ leaders • are ‘ playing" a' game of their own in which the Communists are being used for the advantage of Germany. It may be that Germany is quietly allowing Russia to proceed westwards step by step«until she becomes a real menace to Scandiavia, and if she menaces Scandinavia, then at the same time she threatens the supply of foodstuffs to Great Britain. One of these days Herr Hitler may be able ot convince the Western Powers that Russia and her Communism have become a far greater danger to them than he is. What would happen then? Solutions to such problems cannot be put forward on the limited information we possess, but the problems are there, and they are worth thinking about. SWIMMING THE CHANNEL. An English paper, which arrived by the latest mail from Home, contains the information that a Swedish girl, Miss Sally Bauer, swam the English Channel on the 27th August last. The route followed by this young lady was from Calais to Dover. She commenced her swim at a few minutes before six in the morning, and reached Dover some 15 hours and 20 minutes later. The reason for her taking this method of crossing the channel is not given. If German ladies were to pursue the same plan and were to be found swimming the North Sea from Germany to England, a very easy explanation would be forthcoming at once. But there was no war on the 27th August, and if Miss Bauer had been so minded she could have used one of the many Channel steamers and would have reached England in an hour and a half or thereabouts. But when a young woman gets an idea into her head, even the cold water of the Channel will not stop her. Those who understand the difficulties of this task will regard the Swedish girl’s effort as a magnificent one. * AUSTRALIA’S TRADING BALANCE. Those who love to blame the policy of the Labour Government for everything, will be interested to note that Australia, as well as New Zealand, has her troubles in connection with exports and imports, but although their case is somewhat similar to our own their method of dealing with it is very different. For the year ending on the 30th June last, the Commonwealth exports amounted to £96,000,000, but the imports for the same period were £99,000,000. It will be seen, therefore, that imports had exceeded exports by £3,000,000, and in economic circles this is regarded as as unfavourable balance. The ideal to be aimed at is that exports should exceed imports. It happens, however, that the above figures related to goods or commodities. Australia also exported something like £12,000,000 of gold. When we add this £12,000,000 to the £96,000,000 of other exports we get a grand total of £108,000,000, and thus we see that the total exports exceeded the imports by £9,000,000, which is rather better. Unfortunately this is not enough. In order that the Commonwealth may be regarded as running on sound lines, it is necessary that the total exports should exceed the total imports by something like £20,000,000, because unfortunately there is always that huge debt in the form of interest on overseas borrowings. WHAT DO THEY PAY AT HOME?

It is the privilege of a British citizen to growl, and with the approach of the date on which income tax payments must be made the privilege is likely to be exercised to the full. When we are growling, however, we might find time to consider what the English taxpayer is called upon to contribute, and the following figures relating to income tax rates may be of special interest at the moment : Income Single men, all Married men investment income three children all earned income

A TRUCE IN PARTY POLITICS. Much is said nowadays about the cessation of party warfare, but very little appears to emerge except the talK. In Britain they do things on a beter scale. Almost immediately after the war broke out the leaders of the political parties agreed that during the war they would not contest by-elections. In other words, it was arranged that if a member representing a given constituency should die or resign, then the party to which he belonged should be entitled to nominate his successor without opposition. About the same time it was arranged that members of the Labour Opposition should be attached to various Government departments, in order that they may be informed accurately of what was being done and thus be in a position to give active, as distinct from mere passive, co-operation.

£ 1940-1 1940-1 12.5 0 31 200 1 101 350 3 7 500 4 9 0 81 800 5 91 2 51 1,000 6 11 3 3 1,500 6 7 5 3 2,000 6 10 5 01 3,000 7 6 6 4 4,000 8 11 7 3 5,000 8 81 8 0 10,000 10 91 10 5 50,000 15 4.'. 15 31 100,000 16 51 16 5