The Chronicle LEVIN. TUESDAY, SEPT. 19, 1916. WAR EXPENDITURES.

Horowhenua Chronicle, 19 September 1916, Page 2

The Chronicle LEVIN. TUESDAY, SEPT. 19, 1916. WAR EXPENDITURES.

Though ilic expenditures oil the pre•s.'iit wart rant-rend all the reccrds of war expenditure in the history of the world, -ancient and modern, it is well to remember that Great Britain's expenditures, though huge, include a, -proportion of recoverable monies. And these are amounts quite apart from

r.nv indemnities- that may be demandedi h'oni the beaten enemy when terms Af • I'mpp s'all bo mad". When Great j'r'tnin increased lior expenditure oil the war—amounting to an extra seven million pounds sterling per week, or from £3-~).C00.C00 up to £42.000,000—an evident feeling of financial disquiet was apparent in financial circles, consequent upon the announcement, and it Iceame necessary for the British ( hancellor of the Exchequer to make cfficial explanations of the actual portion of affairs. The Minister's explanatory remarks will be read with interest all over the empire. As set out by a London financial correspondout. the condition of affairs that Ted to the feeling for once in a way wa.s not the oyster-like quality of dumbness that usually is fouudi to he the characteristic of Governmental control, hut rather a proneness on the part of the newspaper press of London to take notice of heated protests on the part of excitable men possessed of more money than judgment. The articilo on which we base the comments foregoing runs as follows:—

"The Chancellor of the Exchequer threw a bombshell into the city when during June he casually remarked that the war was now costing us six millions pouncis sterling a day. Xo explanation wa.s given a.s to the cause of the jump of olio, million a diay, and the newspapers commenting on the growing cost of the war asked the reason of the increasing cost. A day or two later Mr. MoKenna chided the newspapers with having overlooked the feature of the Treasury's weekly statement of revenue although they had commented on the return week by week ; namely, that the" returns had shown increasing costs for weeks past, owing, as he explained, to the large quantity of American dollar securities which the Treasury had bought for the purpose of maintaining sterling exchange. and to the heavy loans that were being made to our allies and the dominions. This statement liad a reassuring effect upon the public, because. it was recognised that the flood of • dollar securities into the Treasury w;ls not really additional expenditure, neither was the financing of our allies and dominions. It was left, however, to the Right Hon. the Premier to dot the i's and cross the t's. when a few days later he asked Parliament for a vote of credit of £450,000,000 for the purposes of the war. As has been explained before, a vote of credit does not imply the raising of a loan; it is merely Parliamentary sanction to expend a sum greater than the amount originally allowed. The present vote is The highest that has been asked for, and brings the total of the current

financial year up to £1,0-50,000,,000 and ] for the period of the war to £2,832,000,- 1 000; and: having come rather unejpect- I edly the- motion w.is regarded as sup- ' porting ilie belief that the daily ex- I pend : ture ot" the nation, huge as it is. is expanding still further. The Pre- ; mier, however, was careful to explain r that our expenditure in the sixty- j three days from 21st May to 22nd July, | amounted to £318,000,000, of which the army, navy and munitions absorbed £230,000.000, loans to the Allies and | Dominions amounted to £82,500,000. j and food supplies, railways ami miscellaneous £5.500,000. In the previous period April 1 to May 20—expenditure was £241,000,000, making a total for the two periods of £359,000,000, or an average daily rate of expenditure of £4,950,000. The difference between that sum and. the £6,000,000 per day mentioned by the Chancellor of the Exchequer is that one payment is out of a rote of credit and the other represents daily expenditure in respect of ia.ll services—payments out of the Exchequer, trui?; but not necessarily irrecoverable. Loans to our Allies and Dominions are expected to average £1.320,000 a day as compared with £74.500,000, or ■ an average of £1,490,000 a day, in .the previous period, but the 74 5 millions included £12.000,000 from the previous year, so that the daily average was really less than stated. The total has been swollen lately by the fact that the Imperial Government has recently lent to the Commonwealth of Australia £1.1,000.000 beyond the amount already agreed for war expenses, in order to enable the Commonwealth to settle cer- . tain financial questions iind to market its wheat crops, but not to enab'e it to purchase sh : ps. !The third item—food siujplics, etc., —shows a drop of £12,000.000 a.s compared with the first period. The present vote is expected to 'ast until the middle of October, and then another will have to be asked for.