THE MODERN STATE

Wairarapa Times-Age, 2 August 1939, Page 6

THE MODERN STATE

GOVERNMENT AND CAPITAL

MARKET.

“In the last century the total sum raised in taxation in Britain, both centrally and locally, represented about 13 pei- cent of the national income, and now the money that is being raised represents nearly 35 per cent of the national income.” said Sir George Schuster, M.P.. an acknowledged expert on finance and economics, speaking in the House of Commons. "The Government as a borrower has become the chief factor in the capital market. The Government as the controller of the Exchange Equalisation Fund and currency policy can affect, the . very foundations of the country's economy. Then wo have our system of protection. Wo have our trade agreements, clearing agreements, subsidies, marketing schemes, and cartellisation of industry under tlie encouragement of government. Wo have, in fact, got right away from the old self-corrective system. The system is daily becoming more artificial, with the Government as the chief artificer, and now' on top of that we have this huge armament programme, -involving the establishment of a Ministry of Supply with powers of control and interference. We need a positive and not merely a negative policy, with a wide survey and a careful diagnosis of the economic position as a whole. But when one looks at the machinery of government, one finds no organ of government, no instrument, no part of tlie machine which is really capable of undertaking a centralised survey or responsible for taking an interest in the economic position as a whole.”