Greymouth Evening Star, AND BRUNNERTON ADVOCATE. SATURDAY, APRIL 20, 1901. WAR AND TAXATION.

Greymouth Evening Star, Volume XXXI, 20 April 1901, Page 2

Greymouth Evening Star, AND BRUNNERTON ADVOCATE. SATURDAY, APRIL 20, 1901. WAR AND TAXATION.

British wiu'S mean British taxation. Of this wo have ample evidence by our telegrams to-day. Air M. H. Beach in his budget shows the expenditure for the year to have reached the enormous sum of one hundred and eighty-three millions sterling, and as the revenue was £53,000,00 less that sum has to be provided for. Increased taxation is proposed to the extent of £12,000,000 and a further loan of £60,000,000 is asked for. Such figures almost baffle the ordinary mind, so vast are they. The history of the National debt of Britain is one of gradual growth. In 10S8 it first made its appearance with a modest £66-1,263. oho next twelve years saw it mount up to sixteen millions. Just prior to the revolt of the American colonics, the debt stood at one hundred and thirty millions, a sum that political economists of the day considered must land England in bankruptcy. The American war added one hundred and twenty millions. The Trench revolution cost Britain an enormous amount, the national debt in 1816 being over nine hundred million sterling. In ten years this enormous sum was reduced by over one hundred million. The Crimean war added thirty midions sterling. On March 31st, 139.!, the national debt stood at £598,066 000, or £ll 15s Id per head as against £ls per head in 1816. The present war it is evident will add £150,000,000 to the debt, or five times as much as the total cost of the Crimean war, and when wo are told that the Orange Free State will not he able to pay anything towards the cost of the war, it is evident that the rich gold mines of Transvaal will be required to contribute a very substantial sum towards the expenditure that has been incurred. War, then in addition to its horrors, cruelties, and barbarities, is a very expensive game for the peaceful and dutiful taxpayer.