THE BURDEN OF WAR.

Taranaki Daily News, 7 September 1915, Page 6

THE BURDEN OF WAR.

BRITAIN !AND NEW ZEALAND COMPARED. A STRIKING CONTRAST. , 1 Whatever exception may be taken to the details of the new war taxes there is little room for grumbling at the total burden Which New Zealand is carrying a3 the result of the war, when compared with that of Great Britain. The issue of the war means every whit as much to New Zealand as to the Motherland herself —more even, for Britain once defeated, Germany would soon seize her colonies. How then do our burdens coml- - with those of Britain in proportion to our population? Mr. Asquith, in a speech at the Guildhall at the end of June, said the v >r was then costing Britain about £3,<.-09,000 a day, and the total cost for the first 12 months would be approximately £1,000,000,000. A portion of this amount, say, £200,000,000, is represented by loans and advances to the Allies and the Dominions, leaving a, net expenditure of about £800,000,000. Now let us turn to our own figures. Sir Joseph Ward in his Budget last week stated that the Dominion's war bill to the end of June was about £3,500,000. That is the cost of eleven months of war. Adding, say, £400,000 for the remaining month of the year one gets a total of £3,900,000, or in round figures £4,000,000 for the twelve months. Taking the population of the United Kingdom as 45,000,000, aad ours as a million, the cost per head of a year of war works out as follows: £ s. d, Britain 17 14 0 New Zealand 4 0 0 These figures show how comparatively lightly the war has touched this fortunate Dominion financially, and the contrast is still more striking when one compares the a.verage family income of New Zealand with that of Britain. A comparison of incomes was made in the report of the Royal Commission on the Cost of Living in 1912, and though the figures have changed much since then the movement has been to the disadvantage of the EnglisH families. The figures afford the following comparison:— War Weekly income bill, iPer Per Total. head. head. Britain, six in family 52 0y 2 8 9 60% N.Z. five in . family 64 3 12 10 1 6 >/ 2 If borne in proportion to income, the New Zealajider's share of the burden of war would work out at approximately ten shillings per week per head ol population, or, in other words, 26 inil.ions sterling per annum, instead'of the present four millions. 111 addition to bi.'ai> ing the heavy end of the stick financially, the peop'e of Britain, ii has to be remembered, are subjected to loss through air raids and submarine attacks, and have ever to be on the qui vive against the coming of a German naval raid. If we turn to the relative contributions ,n men of New Zealand and the Motherland the figures again show 'how light by comparison is the b'lrdea uicu us. The latest available statement' of the size of Britain's military foraos engaged in the war is contained i.i a pamphlet hj Mr. G. W, Prothero, issued by the Centra! Committee for National Patriotic' Organisations. Mr. (Prothero estimated the total British force, not including the colonial contingents, to be 2,550,000, and the London Spectator, in reviewing hie estimate on June 26, added another 250/000 for additional recruits since the tables were compiled, making a total of 2,800,000 in all. The Spectator also said: "We should of course not have dared to mention these figures if they were not set forth by an organisation of which the Prime Minister is president and Mr. Balfour one of the vice-presi-dents. Apparently things which cannot be said by a newspaper may be said in a pamphlet. As, however, our pen has been temporarily set free by Mr. Prothero, we will venture to say that we think his estimate is at least half a million under the mark." From this it is reasonable to assume that Britain had under arms at the end of June a full 3,000,000 men. Mr. Massey announced in Parliament at the beginning of last month that New Zealand's total of men despatched to the front and under training' woa 26,760. By August Britain would doubtless have greatly increased her forces, for it was at the beginning 01 July that Lord Kitchener issued his very urgent appeal for an unlimited number of extra men. However, taking the figures aa they stand, they show the relative position after a year of war as under:— Troops raised per 1,000,000 people. BiHtain 67,000 New Zealand 26,000 In otehr words, we have drawn, upon our population to the extent of 2% per cent., while Britain has called up nearly 7 per cent, of hers. The future of the Dominion depends entirely 01. the out. come of the war, and the facts and figures set out above .provide food for very serious thought. They should at least put an end to any complaint at the very modest total of the burdens laid upon the country in the Budget.—Dominion.