ECONOMICS OF THE WAR.

Dominion, Volume 8, Issue 2385, 15 February 1915, Page 7

ECONOMICS OF THE WAR.

THE CREDIT MACHINERY. WHEN THE SLUMP COMES? The' economic effects of the war were explained and discussed by Mr. Meredith Atkinson in a highly-interesting lecture delivered by him in Everybody's Theatre last evening. The lecture was, from beginning to end, instructive. Mr. Atkinson spoke first of all of the complexity and intricacy of the machinery of credit, both domestic and international, and how the first shots fired in the war threw out of gear the entire machine, not only in belligerent countries, but all over the world. The heed for the heroic measures _taken by the British Government to restore animation. to ■ our paralysed commerce he explained with rare clearness, and he. showed, also, the splendid results which had followed upon the strong measures of the British Government. Such meaures Germany had not been strong enough to take, and ,her internal trade —the only trade she had left—must be in a shookingly disorganised state, particularly as the structure of her finances had always rested upon au insecure base. ' Austria, bankrupt for the last two years, bankrupt at the beginning of the war, must be a heavy load upon Germany's already strained resources. The.unhappy fate of the Belgians suffering the unpeakable horrors of the greatest of all wars, and of Northern E ranee he described from, the purely economic aspect, leaving out of account all of the other horrors of • enemy occupation. France was, however, in a better state to go' through the war than Germany, and Russia, with limitless resources in men and materials, a sound banking system, and stupendous gold reserves, was bettor able to stand the strain of war than any of tho belligerents. What will be the cost of the war? To this question Mr. Atkinson replied thus: "Probably by the end of the war twenty million men will have been ongaged merely in fighting, not to mention the immense hordes of men making war material, which, from the point of viewof utility is not worth a brass farthing to anybody. _ It is calculated that the total expenditure is £10,000,000 a day, and that whon twelve month of war are over the total expenditure will have reached the appalling figure of £4,000,000. Of course, no one can realise what that means. At least it means not only the waste of money and men, but the waste of some of the common utilities of life that can never bo recovered. . . ,

"It would be idle to attempt to predict the effect this will have on our economic condition generally in the nest few years. You in the Pacific can take comfort from the fact that tho inevitable oomo it must—will bo delayed in your case for perhaps two or three years. New Zealand and Australia are capable of supplying tho three primary commodities, meat, wheat, and wool, which even bankrupt nations must buy, oither with money ,they have or money they borrow. These three things people will continue to buy whilo they have anything at all. So that you have this grain of comfort, that in your case the slump will be delavcd for two or- three years. But woo betide New Zealand if she forgets to' propara for what tvill hfeppen after the .firsfe.taao); threap" « P.KMEarltj.'i ■