BRITAIN’S STRENGTH

Waikato Times, Volume 111, Issue 18660, 11 June 1932, Page 5

BRITAIN’S STRENGTH

FINANCE BILL PASSED

CHANCELLOR’S SPEECH.

SOLUTION OF WORLD PROBLEMS. (Official Wireless.) (Received June 11, 10.45 a.m.) RUGBY, June 10. Mr Neville Chamberlain, Chancellor of the Exchequer, made an important speech on the third reading of the Finance Bill, which passed the 'House of Commons hy 409 votes to 04. The difficulties at present being encountered, he said, were common in every country, and were not going to be solved by any Finance Bill introduced in this country alone. Cooperation between nations was necessary, and indeed the only way in which a solution of the prevailing problems could ultimately be found. Referring to the debt. charges and the prospects of undertaking conversion operations he said, the Government considered the circumstances favourable, and it would act promptly.

The General Outlook. Dealing with the general outlook Mr Chamberlain said some feeling of uneasiness, which did not seem to be well founded, had arisen. 4 He depreoated both breezy optimism and unduo pessimism, and hoped the House of Commons would keep a balanced judgment. It was futile to base any estimate of the Income revenue and surtax on the figures for April and May, or to base any calculations for the whole year upon what happened in the first two months, but he saw no reason to expect that there would be any appreciable fall in the yield of inland revenue, including stamp and death duties, as well as income-tax and surtax. They had no experience to make any reliable calculation of the yield of Import duties. Any estimate must, to a large extent, be conjectural. The latest figures regarding unemployment were to some extent disappointing, but were affected hy the Whitsuntide holiday. The next figures might show a very different aspect of the situation.

Comparing the existing situation with that prevailing before the first National Government took office, he said they had got to the position at which confidence had been restored In the eyes of the British people, and in those of the world it had come about to an almost embarrassing extent. The figures regarding unemployment, which had been rising In 1929 and 1930, had been checked. On the Stock Exchange the price of the 3J per cent, conversion loan, which last August stood at 77 5-8, was to-day at 88.

Ground for Encouragement. If Britain’s position was compared with that of other countries there was a good deal of ground for encouragement. The trend of trade during the January—April period, as compared with the corresponding period of 1931, showed that the percentage fall in imports in the United Kingdom was 12 per cent., but the United States suffered a fall of 30 per cent., France 35 per cent., Germany 36 per cent French exports had fallen by 38 per cent, and those of the United States and Germany by 36 per cent, each, while the exports of the United Kingdom had fallen only about 7 per cent, in volume. The percentage fall in imports to the United Kingdom during the past three months of the current year was nil, whereas In* the United States it was 40 per cent., and in Germany 12 per cent. In regard to the fall In the volume of exports Germany had suffered 2i per cent., the United States 16 per cent., and Britain Icsb than one per cent. Had it not been for coal they would have shown an increase. The export of manufactured goods during the first quarter was higher than in the first quarter of last year. It was true that while Britain had been getting the largest share of It, world trade as a whole was continually diminishing, illustrating the fact that no single country could prosper when the rest ol' the world was depressed. , But the fact that the world depression had been widening and deepening had brought home to every people an added sense of the realities of the situation. “In my view there is to-day in Europe a greater approach to unanimity as to the cause of the troubles and the steps necessary to solve the problems than at any time since the war. “ Next week wo enter upon a conference at which an earnest endeavour will be made to reach an agreement with the countries directly concerned in tlie solution of these difficulties, and I feel hopeful about the result. Lausanne may prove to bo the turning point in the history of Europe In these difficult days.” Government Would not Flinch. Mr Chamberlain said he did not accept tlie view that If these hopes were disappointed further taxation was inevitable, or that the end of the possibilities of a reduction of national expenditure had been reached. The main items of expenditure of a size that would warrant the belief that substantial reductions could be made, however, involved matters of vital Importance either to tlie safety of the country or the standards of living, but if tlie Government felt that the changes regarding them were necessary, they would not fiinch from telling the House and tlie country. On tile whole they had no cause for pessimism. He believed it necessary carefully to watch the situation and lose no opportunity of reducing Hie national expenditure where Unit could properly be done. The Government had already taken measures which had prepared the way for a rapid advance as soon as the general conditions became favourable. They had taken measures, through the monetary policy, to set the slage for that rise in wholesale prices which all desired. Tliey had held the pound reasonably steady at a level not inconvenient to industry, and had enacted in this Finance Bill measures designed to avoid speculative fluctuations in llin future value or sterling. They bad instituted a system of tariffs on a scientific basis. They had entered upon an era of cheap and plentiful money. They had seen ideas on the monelary policy in the United Stales running parallel with their own, I (Continued. In next column.).

and might therefore, especially in view of tlie conferences at Lausanne and Ottawa, and possibly later In London, think that the sorlos of opportunities would enable them to contemplate the future with cool heads and with . cautious, but roasonod, optimism. Rejection of Bill Urged. Mr Morgan Jones (Labour), in mov ing tlie rejection of tiie Finance Bill declared that the nation could no! continue another generation with such an exhausting burden of interest on tlie national debt, it was time the Government courageously faced the situation, and called upon the war loan holders, like other members of tiie community, to face a reduction of interest.