NEW CHANCELLOR’S SUPPORT

Otago Daily Times, Issue 26622, 19 November 1947, Page 5

NEW CHANCELLOR’S SUPPORT

MR DALTON’S BUDGET'

ONLY MINOR CHANGE MADE Rec. 9 p.m. ' LONDON, Nov. 18. “ I am in full agreement with the proposals my precedessor put forward in this Budget,” said the new Chancellor of the. Exchequer, Sir Stafford Crips, replying to the Budget debate in the House of Commons. Sir Stafford said that Mr Dalton, by his final act, had decisively underlined the highest standard of British democracy and honourable conduct of British statesmen and politicians. The Chancellor said that steps were being taken in this Budget to reduce the volume of money available for spending, but that was only part of what Britain could and should do. Increased production was vital, not only for the export drive, but also to counter the inflationary tendency. " It is quite clear that the inflationary tendency is largely in the area where money is available for capital goods,” said Sir Stafford. He added that the Government did not want to be driven to more control by misuse of individual freedom. It was Britain’s pride as a democracy that the individual was left with as large a degree of freedom as was compatible with national interest. Nevertheless, the possibility of continuing that degree of freedom in a condition of economic stability depended upon the restraint with which the individual made use of that freedom, especially in times of national difficulty. “ I appeal to the whole nation to voluntarily help in cutting unnecessary expenditure by investing their savings in Government securities,” he said. “The Government, just as much as the individual, had to avoid unnecessary expenditure. The Treasury by next April would doubtless be able to see how successful the attempt to restrict expenditure had been.” Sir Stafford said that the Government did not regard expenditure on social services as : unnecessary or a luxury, -neither did it regard maintenance of the standard of living and housing for lower income groups as an unnecessary extravagance. Food subsidies were a most material factor in Britain’s policy of making rationed foods available for all sections of the population and had been responsible for a remarkable smoothness of progress in the industrial field. “We believe it wise to maintain food subsidies within the limits which Mr Dalton had stated,” said Sir Stafford. He thought the present Budget would hold the situation until April. Sir Stafford announced only one alteration in Mr Dalton’s Budget provisions. He said it had been decided that it would be unfair to include bicycles and tricycles in the new purchase. tax increases. (The tax on bicycles was increased in the Dalton Budget from 33 1-3 to 50 per cent.) The ordinary cycle was now almost exclusively used for business purposes, and the Government was taking appropriate steps to avoid penalising cyclists.—(Cheers.)