THE FINANCES OF EUROPE.

Taranaki Daily News, Volume LII, Issue 198, 25 September 1909, Page 4

THE FINANCES OF EUROPE.

The National debts of the world in the form in which wo know them to-day belong in their origin to the nineteenth uul twentieth centuries, and are based ipon present national regulations aud ietivitk'B and the development of the system. They are fixed and de lormincd by the legislative powers of ohc several countries. The increasing interest taken by governments in the •ver-multiplying dim-lions of national •orpovate life, particularly in the construction of great national works, as well as in wars, has led to the expendi- , -ure of vast sums'from time to time for which the usual revenues were not sufficient. In this way the national debts >f Europe have risen enormously. The igure showing the size of these national j debts do not. however, constitute a pro--1 nor basis upon which to estimate the [wealth or poverty of any given state o, | nation, sinew in each ease the value of | the national possessions and undertakI ngs should be taken into account in "oriuinsr such an estimate. Therefore, *ays a writer in the Dutch review, ■'Vragen van den Dag" (Amsterdam), he figure* given should be taken cum jrano salis, while at the *ume time thny may give some idea of the amazing acivity of the nations concerned. According to the Manual of Political Science the aggregate of the national -iebts of Europe in 1783-89 amounted to ,C4U,120.000: in ISI 4-18. to £1,442.700.000; in 1845-48, to £1,593,400,000. After this they increased still mora hapidlv till they amounted in 1874 to £3,000,000,000. In 1845 the national debt of Great Britain was still larger than that of any other European nation, being then £761,800,000, as against £158,000,000 owed by France. In 1874, after the expensive war with (Germany and the payment of five milliards war indemnity, the relative indebtedness of Great Britain and France was reversed, France's debt at that time amounting to £870,>OO,OOO, as against Great Britain's £755,000,000. Since then France has kept this unenviable lead. According to Report VII. of "La Statistique In fernationaJe des Valeurs- Mobilieres" worked up by Alfred Neymarck, 1908, .he national debts of Europe have risen, since 1800, to the following figures, in round numbers:—ln 18(i(i thev amounted to £2,1)40.000,000; in 1870, to £3.000.000.000; in 1887. to £4.030,000.000; in 1900, to £5,020,000,000. The interest paid on these enormous *ums for the*respective years- was £90,000,000, £120.000.000, £212,000,000, and £208,000,000. During the past twenty yea v s the aggregate debt of Europe has increased by over £1,200,000.000, the annual outlay for military purposes by £80,000,000. Tlh" aggregate military expenses of Europe thus amount to some £lO,'lOrt.ooo mr.ifl annually than the interest on the debts. France lake sthe lead in the amount of her national debt, and equally, of course, in the interest paid on the same. And this is true not only in the entire amount of interest annually paid, but in tin; share borne in this by each V habitant. In Russia. • n the other han-l. although the country has an aggregate indebtedness four-fifths as great as that of France, the interest per eapiva 1 amounts to but little more than oiuI third that of the latter country. The 1 burden of taxation must pre«ss far nunc 1 heavily on the individual there, however. because o"f the inferior earning capacity 1 of the average Russian. With what enormous strides the national debts of the various European 1 countries have recently advanced can 1 further be seen from the following: • Tn 1000 Germany's debt had increased over the amount of any previous period !»V £130.000,000: that of I'elgium b 1)24,000,000; that of France by £l7*,- • -100,000; while to Great Britain's h.is been added £ 12,380,000. The increase 1 in the aggregate vxpenditure for military purposes by the mition? of Europe • is shown bv the following figures: —ln 1 1800 the total amount spent for tho armies and navies amounted to £120.1 000,000; in 1870. to £140,000.000; m 1877, to £180.000.000; and in 1000, to ' £208,000.000. The tab'h' below gives the latest I'gures as to the total national debt or s each European country:

' ,;«, _; ;; p 'i £ § S 1 Austria (11107) .. 4113 1(1.1 0.01 Belgium (1007) .. 133 a 0.7.5 , France (1007) .. 1107 411.3 1.20 . Germany (1007) .. 840 33 0.58 I firoat Britain (1000) 700 31 0.74 . ltiilv (1000) .. 520 23 0.7; ' Eus'sia (1007) .. 018.3 40 0.37 ,' Turkey (1005) .. 05 ■- —