The Chronicle PUBLISHED DAILY. LEVIN. WEDNESDAY, JANUARY 27, 1910.

Horowhenua Chronicle, 27 January 1915, Page 2

The Chronicle PUBLISHED DAILY. LEVIN. WEDNESDAY, JANUARY 27, 1910.

THE WAR. How long will it last? is a question oiten asked, but no satisfactory reply is forthcoming. What will the war cost:' is another puzzling query, aud Lhe ordinary financier shakes his head and says no ono knows. That it will moan a great burden we may be sure, but as far as Great Britain is concern ed, her financial experts are not afraid of bankruptcy. The question of cost is an intensely interesting >nt> and as it concerns everyone, whether at Home or abroad, w© quote the opinion uif Mr Edgar Oramonu, as given in tho Quarterly Review. He says: "On the evo of tho outbreak of war, I estimated our total national wealth at £10,000.000,000, and our National ncome at £2,000,000,000. Taking the most unfavourable view possible— namely, that at the end of the war wo iind that we have lost in direct and indirect expenditure, say, half a year's income and, say, one-sixteenth part of our capital—we shall still bo avery rich nation." Mr Cramond is very confident as to the future. He .•says that provided Great Britain maintains command of tho sea, she may rest under t'ho absolute certainty of being in a better position than any other Power at the conclusion of hostilities to take full advantage of the vast expansion of trade which tho experience of all previous wars, according to his view, indicates will then take place throughout the world. This is the opinion of one well-known writer. The editor of the Economist says: "So far as Great Britain is concerned, she evidently could defray out of her current income, were it necessary to her existence, the whole expenses here ascribed to her. That is to say she couldi divert to the production of goods and 1 other stores and munitions a sum amounting to. say, one-seventh of her total income, tho portion at present consumed by its owners upon luxuries or other unnecessarics, or saved and put into fresh capital. Much dislocation of industry andi a temporary stoppage of all processes of industrial improvement would Ijc involved, but this sacrifice of luxury and saving would yield tho necessary revenue for the war."