The Guardian And Evening Star, with which is incorporated the West Coast Times SATURDAY, DECEMBER, 17, 1932. BRITISH FINANCES.

Hokitika Guardian, 17 December 1932, Page 4

The Guardian And Evening Star, with which is incorporated the West Coast Times SATURDAY, DECEMBER, 17, 1932. BRITISH FINANCES.

The strain and! sacrifice which payment of the war debt instalment being paid to -the United States will impose on Great Britain has been emphasised in official communications and frankly admitted in much of the American comment on the subject. Most of tho discussion has teen in general terms, hut there is cue aspect of it which is direct and practical, the bearing it has on the prospect of balanced accounts for the current financial year. The Budget which Mr Neville O-iani-herlain introduced on April 19 was an outstanding example of close estimating. With a prospectiove revenue amounting to £766,800,009 he ofetailecl expenditure which allowed a surplus cf £796,000, a margin that would -fjpeedily disappear under the impact of any unforeseen call on revenue. The debt situation means that a burden of very serious dimensions will be cast on the revenue. No provision was made in the Budget for the payment. The Chancellor remarked on this in his statement, and also ou the fact that on the revenue side no payments from Britain’s debtors were counted. AH these points, he explained, were being deferred until aftci the Lau sanne Conferencse. Nothing has been done T.efone them since, principally because of uncertainty about America’s attitude. Now, with payment firmly demanded,. Britain has found a sum in dollars amounting to £33,400,000 Li sterling at- the present rate of -exchange. This is what the instalment will cost. Returning to the Budget, the only appreciable gain since April has been a saving of £lO.000,000 on the cost of Treasury hills as a result cf the very low rate of interest ruling for short-teun cieclit. It is therefore certain that with the payment to America of the war debt instalment, that the plans for a credit balance at the end of the financial year must fall to the ground, and that it. would appear impossible to discount the possibility of a substantia deficit at- the end of the financial year.