BRITAIN'S BURDENS AND OURS'

Dominion, Volume 8, Issue 2555, 1 September 1915, Page 4

BRITAIN'S BURDENS AND OURS'

Whatever exception may be taken to the details of the liow'war taxes there, is little ro'om for grumbling at the total burden which New Zealand is carrying as the result of the war when compared with that of Great Britain. The issue of the war means every, whit as much to New Zealand as to the Motherland herself—-more :evsh, for Britain once defeated,' GeyftSiiy would soon seize her colonies. How then do our burdens compare with those of Britain in proportion to our population? Mr.. jAsquith in a speech at the Guildhall at the end of June said the' .war was then, costing Britain, about £3,000,000 a day, and the total cost for the first twelve months vohld be approximately £1,000,000,000. A portion of this amount, say, £200,000,000, is represented by loans and advances to the Allies and the Dominions, leaving a net expendiure of about £800,000,000. , Now let ns turn to our own figures. Sin Joseph Wand in his Budget last week stated'that the Dominion's war bill to the end of June was about 'l'hat is the cost of eleven months 6f war. " Adding, say, £400,000'' for the' remaining month, of the year one gets a total of £3,900,000, or in. round figures £4,000,000 for .the twelvo months. Taking the population of the United Kingdom as 45,000,000 and ours as a million, the cost per-head of a year of. war works out as follows: — Per head. £ s. d. . .Britain.. ....; 17 14 0 . •New Zealand 4 0 0 These figures show how comparatively lightly, th© has touched this fortunate Dominion financially, arid the -contrast is still', moro striking"' when one compares the average family income of New Zealand with that of Britain. A comparison of in-, comes was made in the report of the 'Royal Commission on the - Cost of Living in'l9l2, and though the figures have changed much since then, the movement has beeli_ to the disadvantage of the: English families. The figures afford the following comparison:— Vi ar Weekly income. bill. I'cr . Pep Total, head. . 'bead. Britain, ail in family' A 2 (ty ;.8 8 6 9i New Zealand, fire in family 64 3 -■• 12 10 IGJ If borne in proportion to income, the New Zcalandcr's share of the burden of war would work out at approximately ten shillings per week'per head of population, or in other words 26 millions sterling, per annum, instead of the - present four millions. In addition to hearing the heavy end of the stick financially, the people of Britain, it has to be, remembered, -a.ro subjected to loss through air raids and submarine attacks, and . have ever, to be on the qui vivc against the coming of a German naval raid. If we turn to the relative contributions in men of Nov/ Zealand and the Motherland, the figures again show how light by comparison is the burden upon us. The latest available statemont of the size of Britain's military forces engaged in the war is contained in a pamphlet by Mb. G. W. Pkothero, issued by the Central Committee for National Patriotic Organisations. Mr. Prothero estimated the total British force, not including the colonial contingents to be 2,550,000 and the London Spectator, in re: viewing his estimate on Juno_ 26, added another 250,000 for additional recruits since the tables were compiled, making' a , total of 2,800,000 in alh The Spectator also-said: "We should of course not have dared, to mention these figures if they were not sot forth by an organisation of which the Prime Minister is President and Mn. Balfour one of the Vice-Presidents. Apparently things which c'annot be said by a newspaper may be said in a pamphlet. As. however, our pen has been temporarily set free by, Mr. Prothero, we will venture to say that, we think his estimate is at least half a million under.the mark." From this it is reasonable to assume that Britain hacl under arms at the end of June a full 3,000,000. men.i Me. Masses announced in Parliament at the beginning; ot last month that New Zealand's 'total of men dispatched to the front and under training was 2G, 1 7G0. By August Britain would doubtless have greatly increased her'forces, for it was at the beginning 'of July that Lord Kitchener issued _ his very urgent appeal for an unlimited number of extra men. However, taking the figures as they stand,'they show, the relative position after a- ye.lr of war as under:— Troops raised per 1,000,000 People. N Britain : G7»ftUo- - Zealand. : 26,000 ■ In other words, we have drawn upon our population to the extent of 2i per cent., wlnle Britain has called up nearly V per cent, of hers. Tlio future of the'.Doniinion depends entirely on the outcome of the war, and the facts and figufes set out above provide food for very serious thought. They should at least put an end to any complaint at the very modest total of the burdens laid . u&cm the .country, in' the Budget,