EMPIRE EFFORT.

Auckland Star, Volume LXXI, Issue 217, 12 September 1940, Page 4

EMPIRE EFFORT.

AUSTRALIA'S PART. ECONOMIC RESOURCES. Though the three Dominions of Auetralia, New Zealand and Canada have a combined population of only 20,000.000 their economic and material contribution to the war effort already exceeds that made on the other side l>v Italy with a population of 44,000,0011. This striking fact is brought out by Mr. Colin Chirk, well-known Australian economist, in a recent world broadcast — now released in Xew Zealand through the Australian Trade Commissioner. "The fortunes of war." said Mr. Clark, "'largely depend nowadays on the availability or otherwise of equipment. 1 food and trained men—in other words, a vast economic effort lies behind every military effort. A country's capacity to make economic effort depends, in * the first instance, on what it can produce. Equally important, however, is the amount required for consumption for purposes other than war. The more it can produce, and the less, it can consume, the greater will be a country's war effort. '"The amount which a country can produce is generally known ae its national income. Investigations of national income have l>een my special sphere of work for a number of years. National income produced in Australia in the year ended June, 1940, was computed at £886,000,000 Australian, and for the year ended June, 1941, it is provisionallyestimated at £900,000,000, in spite of anticipated depletion of man-power by enlistment. These figures are well above the previous record of £7R5.000.000 in 1929, at a time -when much higher prices were being received for Australian exports than now. Huge War Expenditure. "War expenditure to be incurred actually in Australia during 1040-41 is estimated at £1(50.000,000, or IS per cent of the national income. This will represent expenditure on the building of a large army, air force and navy in Australia, and on the training of Australian troops for service overseas. "Both Britain and Germany are at present devoting over 40 per cent of their national income to war expenditure. The Australian figure, of course, falls short of this, but it is on a level with, or slightly higher than the Canadian. This i* largely explained by the fact that Australia and Canada made a late start. In j.J3B. neither Dominion was devoting as much as 1 ncr cent of its national income to defence purposes, and delay in buildiiis up a war programme was inevitable. Obstructions, however, arc !>ein" rapidly overcome, and even this current vear an upward revision of the programme n.av be poss!ble. There is no dinibt that next year a substantially increased contribution to the war effort will |, e Inat ] o It is of some interest to note that current expenditure on war and def • ", amounts to 7.3 per cent of the national "'come „. U.S.A., about 1.-, ~,,- ccnt j. Kussia.and 28 per cent in V,pan n companng national income between one country and another, it will not *„, \" ie simply to convert currencies at present 'lay exchange rate*, because the act -al purchasing power of money in different '-ountiies may vary nidelv. It is however, possible to compare national incomes ,n terms of 'sterling purchaMn« power. That i s to say, we'ea, "ta e the actual quantity of goods produced' On this l* s is we obtain a fi"iire J o a S ?e i,r? U , Cti ° n I* r *reaS«Xe r £2SO 1 < Bn ,- ain nnd Cnna da and For Japan and Russia also . it , fitc**! rc!^vet the^reSare£9ra "^

Dominion's Productivity ■*»eakmg. it depends not so mnc ,n their productivity a s on the JS S „' hm.ted degree, and if attempts are darde of health and even of civilised living are endangered. In 1939-40 the Italian Government spent 40 pe r cent chi a e n rt° P f " atiOnal In ~™*->K on 1,1 . a " (l half on military requirements, and indeed it is doubtful if Italy can spend at any greater rate now that ehe has entered the war.

i"- 1^ le r* n, , axinUUn econon »c contribution winch Italy can make, therefore, ie onlv £20 per bread-winner. Australia anil Canada are already contributing £45 to foO per bread-winner, as Britain ie at the present time. Thus Australia, Canada and New Zealand, with a combined population of wily 181 millions, are already making material contributions to war effort greater than Italy's —and, moreover, one which will increase rapidly while Italy's will probably decline. Australia is shiiwbi" goods at the present time at the rate or 2,000,000 tons of wheat and half a million tons of eryar ]>er year. These are enough to provide continuous bread rations for half the British population (and continuous peacetime sugar consumption for a quarter of the British population; on the basis of wartime rations we are supplying more like half of Britain's sugar requirements. "At present we are shipping at the rate of (.00,000 tons of wool per year, representing Britain's entire peacetime requirements with 30 per cent over: 300.000 tone of meat per year, or 10 per cent of Britain's peacetime requirement*, and 100,000 tone of butter per y°ar, or just under 20 per cent of Britain's peacetime requirements. In the case of wool, Britain now requires as much as as she did in peacetime, mainly for uniforms and for manufacture for export. In the case of meat and butter, I as with sugar, wartime rations are below peacetime, and Australia's contribution to Britain's requirements i<s greater than the percentages just given." j