The Timaru Herald. WEDNESDAY, SEPTEMBER 9, 1914. THE COST OF THE WAR.

Timaru Herald, Volume CI, Issue 15447, 9 September 1914, Page 6

The Timaru Herald. WEDNESDAY, SEPTEMBER 9, 1914. THE COST OF THE WAR.

Mr Robert Guthrie raises a large question when he discusses, in another column, the way in which New Zealand should meet the costs of the present war. The question can only be considered properly by distinguishing between the various objects for which monej- from New Zealand will be required. First of all there is the equipment and maintenance of the Expeditionary Force. So far this Force has been equipped by voluntary contributions. That was the quickest way of getting the men ready for the front. It was a way, also, which gave every. New Zealander an opportunity of doing something at once to show his loyalty to the Empire; an opportunity to be of helo to the utmost of his desire and means. It spread the voluntary sacrifice, which by the imposition of a war tax would have been restricted to the comparatively small number able to serve their country in a distant field and the kith and kin who parted with them, as far as possible over the whole community. It is true that some people have not,given according to their means; but th.ej have been few and far between as compared with the vast majority who have given eagerly and generously, esteeming it a joy and privilege to do something tangible and voluntary for the Empire. Such contributions are Iwiee blest : they bless those that give and those that take. If there are any working men, earning only 30s a week, who have given their two guineas, as Mr Guthrie says they have, while rich men have been niggardly, those working men need not be pitied. In their own hearts they have their rich reward. They are far more to be envied than the others. They must be glad that the opportunity of their sacrifice, free, and expressing their full spirit, was afforded them. We are not of those who think that no giving has any value unless it is State-measured and compxilsory. But only the first cost of the Expeditionary Force can be met by voluntary contributions. It is satisfactory that the Government has arranged for the whole cost of transport, wages, and, maintenance of the Force till it' arrives back in New Zealand to be borne by this Dominion. That will require a war loan, and probably an arrangement has been niade already for the British Government virtually to underwrite the loan. The war loan will involve special taxation, and no doubt, the taxation will be framed so that those who can best afford to pay will pay most. Mr Guthrie's wealthy "skinflints'" 5 will then have to do their share, and rightly. But the funds to relieve distress in Great Britain, Ireland, and Belgium are on another footing. The money for these is not money for defence purposes. If a man is v so hardhearted that he does not wish to help the poor of the United Kingdom, doomed to suffer far more sharply froni this war than anyone can suffer in New Zealand, or to help the poor'of Belgium, who have lost almost all existence needs and all that life holds dear, while their soldiers have been fighting our battle, it does not seem a proper thing to us that he should be forced to help them, either by a local bodies validating Act or by a war tax. That is a matter of benevolence pure and simple, and we have no doubt that benevolence will do what is needed. Money may be needed also to relieve distress in New Zealand, but there will be no sharp distress in this country if we do our best to sustain employment, and if economy is not practised in wrong directions. The man who keeps on his gardener, whom he could dispense with at a pinch, the woman who has a new dress made which she could do without but need not, should regard those expenditures as contributions to a New Zealand Distress Fund—more correctly, to a fund for the prevention of New Zealand distress.