BRITAIN'S ECONOMY

Waikato Times, Volume 106, Issue 22661, 14 July 1945, Page 5

BRITAIN'S ECONOMY

RENEWAL OF RESOURCES CONSUMERS MUST WAITj CAPITAL EXPENDITURE (United Press Assn.—Elec. Tel. Copyright) (Received July 14, 1 p.m.) LONDON, July 13 The British public, which is showing signs of pressing for relaxation of controls and speedier release of labour and materials to meet consumer needs, is being told some unpalatable home truths, says the Associated Press. The Board of Trade has reminded the domestic consumer that for anything beyond minimum requirements the British consumer must for some time yield priority to exports. The chairman of the National Savings Committee, Sir Harold Mackintosh, has pointed out that the British cannot have a great plentitude of comforts and luxuries and* have machines, raw materials and all the other things necessary to reconstruct the country’s resources. m Britain’s prewar spending on capital equipment was a mere three per cent of its national income, compared with Russia’s 25 per cent under the five-year plan. The verdict of most economists is that the. percentage for the next few years if Britain is to re-establish her international trading position must be between 15 and 20. Etven agriculture will require something like £100,000,000 to modernise farm equipment. Belt-Tightening Period In short, for the British consumer the belt-tightening period is far from over. It seems generally accepted that in the transitional period a full employment programme will not be attained. Some economists have been expressing the view that the postwar employment problem cannot be solved, short of totalitarian direction of the whole economy, unless the Government embarks on a bold policy to deal with redundancies arising from the war, also excess capacity of many industries and surplus accumulated stocks. Professor Clay, Warden of Nuffield college and formerly industrial adviser to the Bank of England, considers that the task of restoring stable equilibrium between the branches of prooduction and the different areas over the world will be greater than last time, and unless the fundamental dislocation resulting from the war is corrected mere expansion of Government expenditure can prevent unemployment only by inflation. HANDED OVER TO CZECHS FORMER GERMAN MINISTER LONDON, July 13 The American military authorities have handed over to the Czech Gov-. ernment the former German Minister 1 for Bohemia and Moravia, Karl Hermann Frank, who has been put in prison in Prague. He is held responsible for thousands of executions of Czechs and for the destruction of Lidice. GERMANS TO BE EXECUTED FRENCH DEATH SENTENCE (Received July 14, 11 *a.m.) LONDON, July J 3 The French News Agency reports that a Rennes court, trying the first German war criminals in France, i sentenced to death five of six Ger- | man naval men aged 20 to 25, charged j with killing six Frenchmen whom j they were ordered to escort to their j ! homes. The bodies, including that of. 1 a boy aged 14 were found, buried in a roadside ditch.