The Wanganui Chronicle. "NULLA DIES SINE LINEA." WEDNESDAY, APRIL .23, 1919. WHAT WE HAVE TO FACE.

Wanganui Chronicle, Volume LXVI, Issue 17552, 23 April 1919, Page 4

The Wanganui Chronicle. "NULLA DIES SINE LINEA." WEDNESDAY, APRIL .23, 1919. WHAT WE HAVE TO FACE.

If, as now s«ems probable, the terms ef peace are to be based upon the Allies recognition of Germany's ability to foot more than a limited portion of the huge war bills of the allied nations, then New Zealand, in company with. every other interested nation will have to face the fact that s-ch a compromise must inevitably entail the carrying, vitihout hope of relief, of exceedingly heavy burdens. The latest forecast suggests that Germany will be asked to indemnify individuals anfct not States, so that the allied nations will bear the full cost of their military operations, and only the losses suffered b.y individuals through the destruction .j! landed property and shipping and personal injury or death will be eoniptrsated from the German indemnity. Numerous financiers have juggled with figures in order to demonstrate the abi/ity of the Central Powers to provide indemnities covering the whole cost of the war; but the Council of Four has had to do with hard facts; not mere speculative possibilities, and it ir.ay be taken for granted that whatever compromise has been agreed to represents the maximum conapensati-o;i which it is within the power of Gerniany and her allies to pay. This being the case, it is well that the public ti this Dominion should realise what they lir.ve got to shoulder, and that at Die same time they should be reminded of t'.'O infinitely greater burden which must bo borne by the people of the Mother Country. Sir Edward Holdan, a leading English banker, stated re-

eently that the total expenditure oi' the British Government between August, 1914, aud December 31st last/was £9,002,000,000, and that if th« normal peace expenditure was deducted from this, the war expenditure stood at £8,128,000,000. That is to say, Britain spent in fotlr years, and five months of war about 45 per cent, of her national wealth on the estimate accepted by Mr. Myers. Sir Edward Holden says that tho increase in the National Debt during the war was £6,750,000,000 and thinks that the country may havo in borrow another £700,000,000 to defray the co«t cf demobilisation, and other charges. Inducting surplus assets of the State, loans to the Do~ Biinkms, and 50 per cent of the loans to the Allies as recoverable, he estimates the net amount of the whole National Debt (including the £650,----000,000 with which Britain began the war) at £6,418,000,000. The £6,750,----003,000 which Sir Edward Holden states was borrowed for war purposes up io the end of last year is about 37 per cent of the national wealth, and be- j tweon two and three times the national, income. New Zealand, according *© Mr. Myers, has incurred a war debt of £61,000,000, which represents 15 per cent of her national wealth, and is five millions greater than the national income. New Zealand's total expenditure on war pensions is approaching £3,000,000, with an annual liability exceeding £1,600,000- Thus, as the "N.Z. Herald" soys*, if Germany is compelled to pay New Zealand's war pensions the Dominion will be relieved of one-third of the annual charges arising from the war, l»qt it will be faced vita a permanent addition to it« public debt of at least £60,000,0001 and of a permanent increase in its annual interest bill of some £3,000,000. Thus th« pre-war debt will be increased by 00 per cent., and th#< pre-war interest bill increased from less than £3,000,003 +o nearly £6,000,000: As a matter of fact, the amount absorbed by interest nnd sinking fund charges during the 1918-19 financial year exceeds £6,000,----000, but the country ha* been enabled to set aside thi* vast sum by the «»x----ppnsion of its wealth through war time increases in the value of its production. The problem for the future will be to meet this biU x'.pder normal conditions, in which price 3 will gradually return to a stable ievel, and this, as our contemporary urges, can only ue done by expanding production, and i:y developing to the utmost the resources cf the .Dominion. Coupled with this thea» must be the exercise of prudent economy in regard to municipal as well as nationafadrainistrafaon,, ajad a stern refusal to countenance anything in the ! way of ill«oonceived "electioneering" ! leans. ■ I