• UNRELIABLE RUMOURS.
In view, therefore, of these considerations, it is scarcely surprising that some uneasiness should have been caused by the constant references of the Prime Minister to equal sacrifices for all, while references have also been made to the sacrifices having to be made by those " best able to bear them." It would seem, however, that, having regard to those main features in the situation concerning which I have said there is fairly common agreement, reduced expenditure rather than increased taxation is the main essential at the present time. It is true that as a consequence of trade depression we are also experiencing a falling away in Exchequer revenues, which suggests that a gap somewhere has to- be filled, but it is most essential that this gap should be filled in the manner least likely to further disturb the industrial situation and, by further contracting the revenue, leave the situation as bad as before. First and foremost, in fact, comes the supreme necessity for a revival in trade and prosperity. At the risk of being found to be an unreliable prophet, I must refuse, -until there is evidence- to the contrary, to believe that the Government's plans include anything in the nature of a " forced " conversion or in the nature of specially penalizing holders of Government securities. To do so would be to impair the National Credit and would be fraught with disastrous results.
(Continued on page vi.)
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