The Stratford Evening Post WITH WHICH IS INCORPORATED THE EGMONT SETTLER. THURSDAY, JANUARY 7, 1915. THE PROBLEMS OF FINANCE.

Stratford Evening Post, Volume XXV, Issue 5, 7 January 1915, Page 4

The Stratford Evening Post WITH WHICH IS INCORPORATED THE EGMONT SETTLER. THURSDAY, JANUARY 7, 1915. THE PROBLEMS OF FINANCE.

Apart from the loss of life, the damage to property and the losses incurred by the disorganisation of trade, commerce and industry through the great war now raging on half-a-dozen European battlefields, the actual monetary cost to Britain alone is appalling, and when the huge sums that are being spent by all the other belligerents are added, the cost is almost beyond belief. The figures of Mr Lloyd George's Budget in November were certainly an eye-opener to Britishers. The revenue for the year had been estimated at £207,146,000, but owing to the war the Chancellor expected it to reach only £195,796,000. The expenditure had been estimated at £206,924,000. ; Actually it will amount to £328,445,000 more than that, or £535,367,000. Accordingly, Mr Lloyd George had to face a deficit of £339,571,000. He proposes to meet this deficit by the following means: —New taxation, £15,500,000; suspension of sinking fund, £2,750,000; aid from existing loans, £91,000.000; aid from the new war loan, £230,321,000. The financial problem, it will be seen, is an enormous one, and difficult of solution. The first complete year of hostilities the Chancellor supposes will cost Britain ' £450,000,000. It must be remembered that a hundred years ago the British Chancellor of the Exchequer handled about £250,000,000

of revenue while to-day something like £2,300.000,000 a year flows into, the Imperial Consolidated Fund. One point of great interest and well wor-. thy of attention is Mr Lloyd George's warning that the effects of the war will 1)6 felt for many years after peace is signed. At first, he said, there will he an artificial stimulus to trade when Britain, owing to her unique position, is applied to for the recon- , struction of the nations. That' period will end in four or five years, and, '. Mr Lloyd George says: "We shall he face to face with one of the most serious industrial situations in which we have ever heen confronted. We shall have exhausted an enormous amount of the capital, of the world which would otherwise have heen availahle

for industries. Our purchasers, both here and abroad, will be crippled. Their purchasing" power will have been depressed. Let us make no mistake. Great Britain will lie confronted with some of the gravest problems with which it has ever been faced."