Aprit 22, Mr. Neville Chamberlain, presenting what possibly is his last Budget, earns confidence in. the leadership which is expected to br his before May ends. If Democracy requires justification let orities note the plain, straightforward manner in which Mr. Chamberlain tells the country that its defence require ments demand further expenditure, No heroics decorate the prosaic assertion that national Mnances must be dominated by this need "for several years to come." Clearly the rearmament programme has prevented Mr. Chamberlain from announcing a gratifying surplus and, probably, further relief to the taxpayer. In coming again to the stalwart "little man" who played so rear a part in the process of recovery, the Chancellor does not deign io depart from the ordinary Janguage of the counting-house. Prose not verse is his medium, though, in restoring the income-tax to five shillings in the £, he is taking back half of the relief he was able to give three years ago on announcing emergence from the worst of the depression. The other measure of reventie-finding is no less far-reaching, albeit novel in method of" assessment, throws a definite burden on trade and industry, but from the brief account of the graduations and allowances attaching to it, appears to have the merit of discrimination. Incidentally it probably will strengthen the measures taken by the Government to keep profiteering on armament contracts to a minimum, It indicates that the new Budget carries increases in direct taxation which mainly fall on shoulders already well inured to that national duty.
The defence programme is being partly financed by loan. Phot docs not imply—as some naively imagine—relief for the current revenue returns. Mr. Chamberlain is not afraid to insist that defence has to be paid for, He is not troubled by the need {fo dress up that truism in glowing lyrics, flamboyant invocations of national deities, or other rhetoric: trappings. Just ax. the Clubman, sponsoring 2 cuse of distress, taps his fellow-member on the shoulder ind intimates that ko has "put him down for $10", so Mr. Chamberlain addresses "his and the country's trusted friend and says "that will be 3d. from you." The Chancellor of the Exchequer must deplore the necessity, for cartier in the financial year which hay just ended, hopes were being entertained of possibility of further reducing the income-tax. The sudden turn of which brought the problem of national security so vividly to the fore scattered those visions. The British citizen has to spend more of his income on insurance. The in= evitable result will be a decline in his of living. He accepts neipte that itis s than a des opposite term in defining, the it concentration of the world on collecting: means to destroy itself, Motley is the only wei Great Britain has to be in tashie for her own protection. So 3d. on the income-tax is Mr. Chamberlain's comment. When 6% per cent. of the national income has to be earmarked for expenditure on defence it will be admitted that inst ance bulks so largely in the budg: that curtailment of other expenditure and a tightening of belts wilt naturally ensue.
Te must also be recognized that if too high a proportion of the national income Is spent on national defence in peace-time there fs a danger of
Text read from the printed page and cleaned; old type leaves the occasional error.