The Daily News. TUESDAY, MARCH 9, 1915. HOW TO PAY FOR THE WAR.

Taranaki Daily News, Volume LVII, Issue 231, 9 March 1915, Page 4

The Daily News. TUESDAY, MARCH 9, 1915. HOW TO PAY FOR THE WAR.

It is estimated that the present war is costing the British Empire an average of a million and a-half per day. Mr. Lloyd George reckons that the first full year of the war will cost at lcast£4so,000,(100, and that £328,000,000 will be wanted by March 31. Mr. Gladstone, as Chancellor of the Exchequer during the Crimean war, declared that "the expenses of a war "are the moral check, which it has pleased the Almighty to impose on the lust and ambition of conquest inherent in so many nations. The necessity of meeting from year to year the expenditure it entails is a salu. tifrv and wholesome check, making them feel what they are about." That is a sound principle. But now that the Empire Has undertaken the responsibility of the war it cannot shrink from the quorous task of devising means whereby the cost of it may be met. The courage with which Mr. Lloyd George lias faced the problem has won the applause and secured the support of all parties in the British Parliament, and the principle on which he bases his proposals for meeting that cost is unquestionably the correct one—that people will be more willing to pay taxes to meet the cost of the war now than they will be when it is over. He lias therefore set himself to the stupendous task of devising means by which to raise payment for the war as it goes on. He proposes to raise the greater part of his new revenue from the income.tax paver by the simple device of doubling both the ordinary tax and the super, tax. So the ordinary rate on unearned incomes will be half-a-crown, and on earned incomes it "will be cigbteennence; while the millionaire will pay five shillings in the pound. Tiiis one new tax is expected to produce the colossal sum of "£44,750,000 a year. But this alone is not sufficient to meet the increased expenditure caused by the war and the deficit must be made up by indirect taxation. Mr. Lloyd George, has decided that it is here, and not through an extension of the incometax downwards, that he can make the great mass of the population contribute toward the cost of the war. He pro. poses to add threepence a pomul to the duty on tea, and 17s 3d a barrel to the beer duty. The additions to the tea duty is expected to yield £3,200,000 a year, while the additional duty on beer should bring in ho less than £17,000,0110. No opposition to these proposals has been made by either party in the British House of Commons. In faet, Mr. Bonar Law wrote a note to Mr. Asquith, assuring him that lie could rely upon the cordial support of the whole Unionist Party in his efforts to provide the sinews of war. The Home Country, therefore, stands practically committed to an extra taxation'of over C 00.000.00 a year. ,She is doing her part nobly, and her action is a challenge to us to do all that lies in our power towards backing her up. We are bound ill honor to consider that .a moral obligation rests on us to do our full share to help the Old Country in the financial srlf-sacrifice she is making. The fact that we cannot be taxed by others is the strongest of all reasons why we should determine to fax ourselves. The people of the Dominion as a whole have

indeed responded splendidly to the .-aji.puals already made to tliem. The collection raised in. New Plymouth by the ladies of the. "Hurnpty Dumpty" Company was gi'aud, and the offer of. Sir. Partridge, of Auckland, to give, his magnificent set. of -Maori painting*,, valued at nearly, £"20,000, is generous beyond all praise. 'But what wc< want to do now is. to concert a systematic form of contribution to embrace the whole community instead of relying merely on the spasmodic generosity of individuals.. Every one of us who cannot personally go to the front, ought to feel in.honor bound to mak:e-such a contribution to the patriotic fiiml as shall be ; tjle nearest possible coanpensatiun lor lhs absence. Then our;-national contribution to tlu l . cost of the. "war would show the- statesmen of Great Britain and tiro- soldiers at tile front, that we are trying to do our part as. nobly as they are trying to do thairs. It ig certain: that sueh an ellort lly us would at once encourage the former and in. spire- the latter. Mr. Asquitli would then- be able to say that' Ms confidence in the success of our cause is greater |tlia-r» ever, and the boys at the front would fight with even surer hope than jtlU-y feel at present. The more united jaml systematic our effort to see the ithing through, the sooner the victory Ijfor which we are all'hoping and prayJ ihg will come.