RISING APACE

Wairarapa Times-Age, 11 July 1940, Page 7

RISING APACE

GREAT BRITAIN’S WAR EXPENDITURE FURTHER CALL TO BE MADE ON TAXPAYERS. CONTINUOUS FLOW OF SAVINGS WANTED. (British Official Wii'eless.) RUGBY, July 9. Th Chancellor of the Exchequer, Sir Kingsley Wood.‘speaking in the House of Commons on the war credit vote of £1,000,600,000, said the previous vote for £700,000,000, which the House approved on March 13, was approaching exhaustion. The rate of war expenditure during the last four weeks had been just over £7,500,000 daily, of which all but £1,000,000 went to the Navy, Army, and Air Force. The daily cost of the. fighting services had risen, said Sir Kingsley Wood, from £4,000,000 to £6,500,000 since . March. These figures provided real and tangible evidence of the great and rapid increase being made in the British war effort and represented no mean achievement. It was impossible, the Chancellor said, to forecast the future rate of expenditure, but no effort would be spared in money or in any other way until victory was achieved. Every step would be taken to attain that object. The vote now requested was for war purposes only, but other large sums in respect of social and other services would be added to obtain the total sum of national expenditure. The whole expenditure approached no less than £9,500,000 daily. The gap between revenue and expenditure was widening) A further contribution from taxation toward the cost of the war must be made soon and must be the very highest possible to cover the widest possible field. There must be a strict curtailment of unnecessary consumption and a continuous flow of savings by large and small investors to the Exchequer. It was imperative to maintain sound financial methods. The country must be ready to make heavy financial sacrifices, not only for the purposes of waging the war, but also so that at the end Britain might emerge so financially strong as to ensure a reasonable prospect of decent conditions and tolerable lives for her citizens. After a debate the vote was agreed to.