SURPLUS CERTAIN

Rotorua Morning Post, Volume 1, Issue 150, 17 February 1932, Page 5

SURPLUS CERTAIN

(Press. Assn.-

britain's position CHANCELLOR AIMING AT REDUCING INCOME TAX "COLONIES ON DOLE"

-By Teltsgrau'a — Copyriglit).

Rec. Feb. 16, 10.55 p.m. LONDON, Tuesday. Sir P. Cunliffe-Lister, at a dinner at the Lyceum Club, said: "To put it in the crudest form, it is good business for Great Britain to make the colonies pay. Some were on the dole receiving grants, but others were drawing balanees from prosperous times. I have asked the Board of Trade to review the tariffs for the colonies giving us preference to-day, in order to see whether by adjustment we could get something of even greater benefit for Great Britain." The "Daily Telegraph" political contributor said ^ the Chancellor, Mr. Neville Chamberlain, is aiming at a reduction in income tax in the- next Budget, possibly ninepence or a shilling, or at least sixpence. This was due to the .certainty of a substantial surplus on March 31. Surprising figures regarding the effect of the fall of prices were given by Sir Josiah Stamp in a speech at Westminster. He said that the burden of £he national debt is now about three times as great as in 1924, but that year was the maximum inflation. He personally calculated the effect of the weight of the debt in terms of 1924 values as at present £11,638,000,000, or an increase of over £4,000,000,000. The situation had become Worse since March, 1931.