INFLATION DANGER

Wairarapa Times-Age, 3 October 1941, Page 6

INFLATION DANGER

THE POSITION IN BRITAIN STRICTER CONTROL URGED “DAILY MAIL” ADVOCATES HIGHER TAXATION. AND INTENSIFIED SAVINGS DRIVE. (Bv Telegraph—Press Association —Copyright) LONDON, October 2. “How much longer will Sir Kingsley Wood’s methods for checking inflation be effective?” asks the “Daily Mail” in a leader. “We are approaching the time when the enormous pressure of new money will force up the prices of goods still available unless far more drastic control is introduced. Three months ago we were spending £10,250.000 daily; now we are spending £13,000.000. The vast annual total makes the record of the last war look almost like petty cash. The strain on our economy is colossal. “Sir Kingley Wood gave no clear indication of how the danger of inflation might’ be averted. He relies on taxation, price control and rationing, but none of these expedients has gone far enough. There remain fruitful sources of direct taxation which can still be tapped. Price control is applied only to a limited range of goods and rationing scarcely ventures beyond the scope of necessities. The Government has not the policy to check a rise in prices, then a rise in wages and then a rise in prices.” The “Daily Mail” adds: “A more vigorous drive should be made to produce surplus cash by means of savings. This should form the framework of a policy which must be adopted if Britain is to escape ruin. Tighter control of prices, wages, and surplus money is vital to financial health. Everyone must live harder and do with less of everything.”