The Guardian And Evening Star, with which is incorporated the West Coast Times. WENESDAY, SEPTEMBER 23, 1925. BRITAIN'S FINANCES

Hokitika Guardian, 23 September 1925, Page 2

The Guardian And Evening Star, with which is incorporated the West Coast Times. WENESDAY, SEPTEMBER 23, 1925. BRITAIN'S FINANCES

V i:sj’ Ki! i* a v tin* industrial plight *d (iiviit I Sri tsii ii was referred to. ami m the caLlo m‘v\> of Monday there 'a;is the rail from tin* London “OhM-rver’ for tin* (iuverninent to do something heroic to save ltritnin\s ) la< «* ammg ilit* nation'*.. I.iut though t *n* po-dium is had. it is not. lio|m*lo>. and I here are those with murage and taitli in tin* eountry to pull it through. One who has his linger on the iinaneial pulse of the nation, the jjritish ( hail-

cellnr of the Exchequer. (Mr Winston Churchill) in a speech in [.ondon on July Kith, referred to “the cloud of uncertainty’' which hung over the national life, meaning the threatened coal strike, and said that such a catastrophe would completely derange the whole economic, and commercial conditions of the country and indict injuries from which it- would not recover in a very long time. Me hoped and believed, however, that it would not, occur. Ho discussed the industrial situation, saying that there wore about t..’100,000 unemployed, which was about HOO.tXJO more than at ibis time last year. Of this number ‘1d0.0.10 were accounted for by the depression in the coal trade and 70.000 hv the more liberal rules for granting unemployment Iwnelits established by the Labor party while it was in power. lie went on to show that notwithstanding this roster of unemployed, conditions in England were by no means desperate. Mis statements concerning some of the results of the dole system are instructive. He is reported as follows: -In the ten years before the war when there was no incentive to register as unemployed the average of unemployed persons was probably never less than -lOO.OOQ so that we had to face an increase, after making allownce for exceptional conditions. of probably 700.000. But during the ten years since the outbreak of the war the population had greatly increased. The restriction of emigration had far more than balanced the losses of the war. The population was now increasing at the rate of SoO.OOO a year. But the people who arrived at the age when they could earn a living were all horn at least 10 years ago; and in those days the population was increasing at -100.000 a vear. More-

over. itoiiifii li:ul become on mors on a inr larger scale than ever before. Those causes wore reflected in an increase of the population on the rolls of the Health Insurance of over 100.000 a year. That cave an increase °f the regular classified industrial population. In ten years that "as 1 .OoO.DOO more people employed. lint the figures of Health Insurance covered only 70 jxm' cent, of the population, and there were a great many forms of j roditetive work in which both men and women engaged, not included in thorn. On the other hand, hours of labor wore shorter. Still the fact remained that there were more jxtoplo employed in this island now than ever l>efore, and they were. < n the whole - with grave exceptions—employed at hotter wages and under better conditions than ever before. (itherwi.se, how did they explain either the increased consuming power of the masses of the people or the increased yield of income-tax and death duties? Such results would he impossible if this island were not providing profitable employment for increasing numbers of people every year. The population of Great Britain drank more tea. consumed more tobacco, ate more bread and meat, wore more and Hottor clothes, more and hotter hoots, soent more on entertainment and amusement per head than before the war. The mass of the labouring population had come through the war not worse, lntt better. The deposits in the savings hanks and the sale of War Savings certificates also showed 3

steady increase. Only in respect of beer and spirits had consumption declined. The general condition of the people had improved. He was originally responsibly for framing the first Unemployment Insurance Act. The object of that Act was to ] rovide covenanted benefit to contributors in certain trades which acre specially subject to seasonal and cyclical fluctuations in employment. That object bad been completely transformed under the pressure of after-war unemployment, by the extension of the same benefit to all unemployed persons whether they were qualified contributors or not. There "as a good case for that extension, and without it we should certainly not have got through the most severe industrial crisis of 1021. But the fact rem allied that under our present by stem our industries were rapidly divided into watertight compartments. and at the tail of every trade there was its own separate waiting list of unemployed persons. That "as a condition of affairs which no other country in the world had created. and it must play a harmful part in our national economy. In dosing -Mr Churchill reviewed the financial achievements of Great Britain since the war. The British policy had been (1) to balance the budget out of revenue; (21 to reduce flm public debt; (fl) to reduce public expenditure and remit taxation. Since 1020 the Budget had balamcd. The public debt was at its peak in 1010. Since then 7dli millions had been paid off the debt: the annual interest charge "as reduced by over 70 millions. Kxpcmlitiire lmd been cut in half since 1022. and taxation reduced by over 800 inilI ions.