THE Pukekohe & Waiuku Times PUBLISHED MONDAYS, WEDNESDAYS AND FRIDAYS. MONDAY, FEBRUARY 21, 1916 THE ECONOMY CAMPAIGN

Pukekohe & Waiuku Times, Volume 5, Issue 148, 21 February 1916, Page 2

THE Pukekohe & Waiuku Times PUBLISHED MONDAYS, WEDNESDAYS AND FRIDAYS.

MONDAY, FEBRUARY 21, 1916 THE ECONOMY CAMPAIGN

" We nothing extenuate, nor set down aiiohl in ynalice."

Although the newspapers in the Mother Country profess to te satisfied with- the trade returns for Ul3 past year, it is per t'ectly obvi:us that the balance of imports over exports has been causing the Government grave concern. The proposal:; for the limitation ol imports have been put forward mainly on the ground that the shipping space occupied by luxuries is needed for other good?, but this is far from being the whole truth. Some little time ago the "Economist," in an examination of the monthly trace return?, took occasion to express alarm at the rate at which the balance was growing on the wrong side, and it declared that while (lie export trade was "deplorably hampered ry shortage of production and dcficiaccy of tonrage." the imports were swollen by extravagance and waste. Ihe rise of imports wis largely in foodstuffs, nt'o', wool, wood and timber, iron and chemicals, and in many classes it could be attributed to war needs. "But looking through the returns," the j urnal continued, "one cannot avoid the conclusion that a great part of the good's we are buying are for unnecessary personal consumption and might with advantage be foreguiie." It quoted spirits, motorcars, hops, canned fish, meat, preserved fruit, lea. coffee, cocoa, currants and conitetioneiy as classes of imnorts that were steadily increasing. It might have addad tobacco to the list, and j it might well have quoted the remarkable importation of picture films as evidence of the extrava- j gant mood if tre people. Germany! has had economy loreed upon her. I Ih< e < my peopl:s have been com- j polled by the conditions of the war to apply themselves to the practice ol thrift. The import factor has trouble! the authorities only because j it is si low. L'-.xtravagance there: may be. but it is reduced to a I mi: imam. Tlia Government in l Germany has commandeered what eve: it r,Le>l. It lias taksn charge < 1 foodstulf and luxuries and has controlled their distribution. In Britain there Ins been no such

cteck en the demands of the peopl o , and in eorsequence there has been a vast weste of money. The importation of unnecessary articles has accentuated the foreign exchange difficulty-one of the most serious aspects of the whole fiua.cial problem. Mor;cver, the expenditure on luxuries has gravely diminished the ability of the peiple to bear the huge finanial burden ot the war. Taxation is inordinately heavy already, and beyond question it will be still heavier this year. Another year of war will add eighty millions to the debt charges Britain is making an unparalleled provision to meet the interests on th>. war debt—France, Germany, Austria and the rest are jcircely attempting to adjust the taxation to the needs of the hour—and ehe will be abia to face the great task of the future more cheerfully if the habit of economy and thrift is acquired now. But the problem is more easily stated than solved, and there is abundant justificitioti for the view that the Government should handle the economic situation with a firmer grip