DEBT REPAYMENTS.

Star (Christchurch), Issue 17524, 29 April 1925, Page 1

DEBT REPAYMENTS.

INTERESTING FIGURES. By Telegraph Press Association—Copyright Reuter’s Telegrams. (Received April 29, noon.' LONDON, Aprii 2S. The House of Commons was packed and excited in anticipation of the Budget statement. The front Government bench was filled with members of the Cabinet, and members of all parties 1 overflowed the side galleries. There 1 was a big muster of .peers in the gal- j lery. j Mr Churchill was loudly cheered on rising, lie paid a tribute to the careful and scrupulous finance of Mr Snowden, and pointed out that the realised 1 surplus of £3,559,000 was remarkably ! close to the Budget forecast of ] £4,024,000. Spirits and tobacco had } produced £2,000.000 less than the estimate, but beer had increased by £1,000.000. The remission of sugar ( duty had fully reached the consumer, 1 but the remission of the tea duty had - been almost entirely extinguished by higher prices. } Inland revenue duties showed a surplus over the estimates of over £6.816.- j 000. The surplus would be devoted to . the redemption of debt. The nominal dead-weight debt had decreased from 1 £7,680,000.000 to £7.646,000,000 during c the financial year. It was most import- * ant that the policy of debt repayment 1 should continue. 1 The floating debt had been reduced <- by £32.500,000, and the external debt 11 by £4.000,000. Savings certificates had produced £32,000,000 gross, showing a ' net increase of nearly £3.000.000. Sav- i ings bank deposits had increased by < £11,000,000. The interest on the na- - tional debt had been reduced c in five years by over £70,000.000 t yearly. 'flic rate of Govern- c ment borrowing had fallen from a 6i per cent to 4i per cent, en- 1 abling profitable conversion operations. r Much larger operations of this sort v were pending, from which the tax-pay- y ers would realise important savings, f The new sinking fund would be in- 1 creased to £50,■000,000. The capital 1 value of the war pensions liability was * now £760,000,000, and the annual charge £87,000,000. as compared with s over £1.000.000.000 and over £11,0,000,000 < after the war. DEMAND FOR STERLING \ ADVANCE IN U.S. ; HIGHEST NOW FOR TEN YEARS. i l By Telegraph—Press Association—Copyright ( Reuter’s Telegrams. (Received April 29. 9.5 a.m.) NEW YORK. April 28. ‘ The demand for sterling advanced to 4.83 dollars, the highest for ten years, j within fifteen minutes after the news of Britain’s return to the gold stand- ■ ard.