The Burden of Another Election.

New Zealand Graphic, Volume XLIV, Issue 17, 27 April 1910, Page 7

The Burden of Another Election.

BARTY FI NDS DEPLETED. WHY THE BANK RATE HAS GONE UP. X 5,000,000 LESS IN HAMiX 1 .<>N IX>N, March 18. “If there is a general election in four weeks’ time, and I a<n perfectly there will <bc *’ Thin is an extract from Mr John Redmond's speech at Newcastle last Wednesday night, and the fact that it i® divorced from its context makes no difference to its meaning. Mr Redmond’s prophecy was an ‘‘out and out” one, and id a confirmation of the anticipation of

fkirty managers having a eignifleance which scarcely ueedM emphasis. lh : b exjM < tatiou of another general election in the immediate future is not agreeable to any party. The last election wa*, l°r most candidates, a terribly expensive affair. Many of them were called upon to foot bills of between two and three thousand pounds each, quite apart from from the general party fund’, which were practically bankrupt by the time the election was ov< r. < aHilid.it* ’ oh both sides are very loth to face again -*> soon the heavy expenditure involved by an electoral contest, and many of them dimply cannot afford to do >o. It is no exaggeration to say that more than half the members of Lhe present Hothe of Commons are not in a position to fight for their scats without substantial help from the respective parties, and many others will very likely decide that the honour of attaching “ALP.” to their nanus is > .ar-ely worth the price that must be paid. As for the people at large, they are so heartily sick of elections that on all sides one hears pious expressions of hope that will happen to stave off the evil day. DRAIN OF GOLD. Meanwhile, what ver happens in the political world, it is quite clear that th* Government financial policy is beginning to tell its tale in the financial and coniine rci il word. } • sterday the bank rate yas rai-ed from 3 to 4 per cent, a most unusual rate for the month of March, one, inde -I. that has not obtained during that month for over bO years. The main reason for the rise is said to be the refusal of the Government to expedite the collection of the income tax. The result is that the money has remained ji the market, and instead of "old flowing into the Bank of England it has bcm -tcudily going out. and out of tin* country. Instead of receiving between January lr-t and yesterday some 4} millions in gold, the bank has been drained of about that amount, and toil.ly holds £5,000,000 lt>s in gld than a year .e_;n. T ■ rise in the 1i »k ra' is pa ti : • larly unfortunate ju*»t now, when trade generally is -hewing marked -igns of improvement. D* ir money is bound to give a <h k t > Lii-mrss enterprise in all direct!. »h% and th«- uncertainty prexailing as to \\h<n th** rational tinan« t s will li< n-rmal hi must t \< r.-i-c f her Lienee. 11 rise in 1 bank ra ’ inly r -t be counted to the Gov- riuuent for rlghteou 3 ■■ — ’•in\ part of tl ■ i community, for it is now quite clear ’ i . Lords need n-.t have interL-rvd _j< atly with national finance. The Lords in Nov* aiL«*r the pa-sing through both Houses of resoluti >ns authorising the c<'ib-ction of the major proportion of the tax. s proposed by the Budget, ami if the Mini-try had accepted that suggestion the Government would have been saved the nece-Jfy of huge temporary borrowing-«, there would have been no disloi at ion of the m< nt y m< . k< t, andl the 4 per cent bank rate would have been unnecessary.