Manawatu Evening Standard. FRIDAY, APRIL 26, 1940. BRITAIN'S BUDGET.

Manawatu Standard, Volume LX, Issue 125, 26 April 1940, Page 6

Manawatu Evening Standard. FRIDAY, APRIL 26, 1940. BRITAIN'S BUDGET.

The tremendous strain which the war has imposed upon the United Kin gdom is well illustrated in the Budget which Sir John Simon has presented to the House of Commons. A year ago the greatest of all peacetime Budgets lyas presented with a revenue estimated at £942,000,000, exclusive of amounts to be borrowed for defence. In September, however, with the war Sir John was compelled to revise his estimates and fresh taxation was imposed to produce £890,000,000. The year ended better than was expected with less money having to be borrowed than anticipated. The total expenditure was £1,817,000,000, of which £1,049,000,000 came from revenue and the balance from loans. In the current fiscal period the Chancellor has budgeted for £2,667,000,000, of which revenue will provide the tremendous sum of £1,234,000,000. These figures tell more than words what the British people will do in the coming months to provide the money to win the wai. Actually £2,000j000,000 will be required for the war and the balance for internal purposes, and there will naturally be heavy borrowing. But there must also be further taxation and the Chancellor proposes that it will come from a sales tax, increases in the income tax (it is now 7s Gd in the pound) and postal charges, and higher duties on beer, spirits, tobacco, and matches. The community as a whole shares in these additional imposts which should realise £185,000,000. The piiblic of this Dominion must realise from these astronomical figures the measure of sacrifice British people are making to win the war against Hitlerism and translate peace to its proper place in the councils of the world.

Commenting on his Budget a year ago Sir John Simon observed that the burden was part of the price Britain would willingly pay in the cause of world peace and national security. To-day that burden has been increased to a very marked extent, yet the sacrifices it demands are lighter than were generally expected. What the Government’s total expenditure will rise to before the war is won cannot yet be estimated with any degree of accuracy, but it is generally felt that the Chancellor’s present figures may be even somewhat small in comparison with the ultimate costs. In any case they cannot be accepted as the limit. A hard but just Budget is an accepted view of its burdens, but generally there is prevalent in England the view that it does not go far enough and there should be greater sacrifices. The Chancellor will take full note of what has been said no doubt, for these are the first sacrifices really. Moreover, the Chancellor has given advice to British people to “think before they spend,” realising that money expended wisely and the balance saved to help

Britain’s war effort gives a much better service to the nation. The Biulget is of supreme importance to this Dominion, whose Minister of Finance must soon render an account of his stewardship. Britain has chosen the path of orthodox finance. The Budget will be balanced in the manner shown, but there will be. a marked contribution by internal economies from the Government and by people themselves restricting tlieir private spending on items which are not essential to their welfare. “The longer I live the greater grows my admiration of British people who uphold traditions that extend for many centuries and hold the forefront place in the whole world,” says Mr Pethick Lawrence, the well-known Labour leader. No more eloquent tribute could have been paid to British people whose spirit is to be seen behind the Budget, and whose strength in finance is a supreme factor in winning the war.