FIRST CHURCHILL BUDGET.

Shannon News, 1 May 1925, Page 4

FIRST CHURCHILL BUDGET.

NICE BALANCING OF BUSINESS INTERESTS. BIG ADVANCES IN PENSIONS AND INSURANCE. The Budget of Mr Winston Churchill (Chancellor of the i:\clicquer) has been generally well received in Britain. Ihe chief points are a surplus ol £26.000,000 on the present basis of taxation! a return to the gold standard immediately; the extension of health insuianee to tlmty million people, a new contributory social insurance scheme to commence in 1920 providing old age pensions at «5 and pensions lor widows plus an allowance lor children. Income tax is reduced by 6d, and small tax-payers will be allowed one-sixth, instead, ol one-tenth, from earned income; there will also be reductions m the super-tax. The MeKenna luxury duties are to be reimposed on July i.

■JUG GIiING WITH »1I LfLIONS. ■U MTLUONS OFF NATIONAL DEBT. LONDON, April 28. The Mouse of Commons was packed and' excited in anticipation of the JUidget statement. The front Government bench was filled with members of Ihe Cabinet and members ot all parties overflowed the side galleries ■ There was a big muster of Peers in the Peers' Gallery. Mr Winston Churchill was loudly cheered on rising. He oaid a tribute to the careful and scrupulous finance' of Mr Philip Snowden and pointed out that there was a realised surplus' of £3,569,000, which was remarkably close to the Budget forecast of £4,024, 000 Spirits and tobacco had produced £2,000,000 less than the estimate but the beer duty had increased by £1,000,000. The remission of the sugar duty had fully reached the consumer, but the remission of the tea duty had been almost entirely extinguished by the higher prices. The inland revenue duties showed a surplus over the estimates ..of over £6,816,000; the surplus would be devoted to the redemption of the debt. The nominal deadweight debt had decreased from £7,680,000,000 to £7,646, 000,000 during the financial year. It was most important that the policy of debt repayment should continue. The floating debt had been reduced by £32,500,000 and the external debt by £4.000,000. Savings certificates had produced £32,000,000 gross, showing a nett increase of nearly £3,000,000. The , interest on the National Debt had been reduced in live years by over

£70,000,000. The vearly rale of Government borrowing had fallen from .63= to 4| per cent.,- enabling proiiitable conversion operations. Much larger operations of this sort wore pending, from which the taxpayers would realise important savings. The new Sinking Fund would be increased to. £50,000,000. The capital value of the war pensions liability was now £760,000.000 and the annual charge was £87;0()0,000, compared with over £1,000,000 and over £110,000,000 after the war. OLUVERv WELL-BALANCED DOCUMENT. LABOUR APPLAUDS WIDOWS' PENSIONS. MOTOR INDUSTRY JUBILANT, "FILMS" ANGRY. (Received Wednesday, 7 p.ni.) LONDON, April)2B. Loboy opinion generally is co'mpli.nentary to the cleverness of the But* get and the ability with which various interests have been balanced. The general impression is that the outstanding features are the return to

the gold standard the extension of health insurance to thirty million peoSfe. The effect of the insurance m-oposals is that men contribute fompence weekly, and women twopence, and employers similarly towards the new benefits, the State's co"atribution being the funds, to make the benefits immediately available. Bum. a ess men are of opinion the extra fourpence will be a handicap tomany industries, but that eventually the .scheme will result i"i the reduction of loeal rates, which will be a compensable Labour Party frankly applauds the pensions to widows, but grumbles that the scheme is contributory. Its chien regret is that Mr. Philip Snowden did not embark upon sucb. a policy in 1924. Sir W. Joynson-Hieks, at Holborn, claimed that the Conservatives had eive'n the He ,to the statement that they legislated for one class only. Other parties had talked of widows pensions but the Conservatives had brought them in- The Conserva--1 ive party looked be-fore it leaped, but when it leaped, it made a mighty .splash. I Mips Wilkinson, Labour.** only woman M.P., considers Mr. Churchill has given an unnecessary pension to able-bodied widows. He should have limited his scheme to widows with children, or elderly people. Mr. Lloyd George, when speaking in the' Commons, welcomed the insurance extension, but hoped .the Government would make the contribution from the Exchequer higher, thus lessening the contributions from the employers and employees during the existing unemployment. He regarded the whole scheme as betraying an ingenious, resourceful and exceedingly audacious mind. Mr. W. A. S. Hewins, chairman oi the Empire Development Union, says it is satisfactory that the resolutions of the Imperial Conference will be carried out. It will have a most encouraging effect upon commerce, which depends upon Imperial trade. Nevertheless, Imperial trade protagonists are still unsatisfied. Mr. Smith, chairman of the Cinematograph Renters' Society, declares the re-impositio'n of the duty on foreign films is preposterous as there is no British film \industry needing protection/The motor industry is delighted at ,the re-imposition of the duties.

The "'Daily Express" describes it as bad that Mr. Churchill should have directed himself entirely to the relief of British commerce and industry. A reduction of a shilling in income tax •would have stimulated trade. The paper asks "How ca'n the mining industry pay £SOO,OOO for insurance ?" The "Morning Post" appears to think the Budget does not sufficiently stimulate industry and agriculture. It describes the industrial stagnation as "the skeleton sitting at Mr. Churchill's feast. Let us remember these calculations are made without regard to the effects on our future. If the present industrial decay increases or even continues, Mr, Churhill is budgeting in a vacuum."

The "Daily Telegraph" says: "The Budget will be very welcome to the vast body of peqpie' who have to earn their living." The "Daily Chronicle" says: "The most immediate disappointment is that proposals do so little for industry, Sixpence off income tax is not big help towards setting industry on ns feet. Moreover, the benefit (oL the remisison is considerably cancelled by the new insurance burdens." The "Daily Herald" says: "The Budget relieves the well-to-do by reducing income tax and lays upo'n the workers an additional weekly expense for insurance. It imposes duties which will make many things dearer, but neither Mr. Churchill nor his Government is to blame so much as the stupid workers who voted them into office."