War Service Homes. The corresponding figures for 1022 were
£333,000,000 and £32,000,000, respectively, so that during the
six years from 1922 to 1928 deadweight War Debt was reduced
by £40,000,000 and Works Debt was increased by £47,000,000.
Tt is, of course, only the latter that the community can expect
to be represented by self-supporting undertakings providing their
own interest or by assets giving a service equivalent to the
corresponding interest paid in respect of them out of the proceeds
of taxation. The States have no War Debt, for though it may
be true that their post-war resettlement schemes were a direct
consequence of the war, they were, at least in their inception,
intended to be self-supporting. The total debt of the States in
1922 was approximately £519,000,000, and has, therefore, increased
 by some £204,000,000 in the six years from 1922 to 1928.
The position as regards the interest payable, the amount thereof
available from revenue-producing assets and the balance which had
to be covered from taxation, in respect of the Commonwealth
and the States’ debt respectively, for the years 1921-22 and 1926-27
(the latest year for which figures are available), is set out in
tabular form hereunder :—

1921-22—
Commonwealth oe
States ... ven

Total ..

1926-27 —
Commonwealth
Qtates ...

Total

Interest Payable.

Amount
Available from
Revenuenroducinge
 Assets

Balance Covered
by Taxation.

18,976,803
20.807 026

x
876,202
15,038.350

£
18,100,601
5.768.676

29.783.829

15.914. 552

23.869.277

20,749,118 |, 2,768,467
31.373.271 | 91661.522
£9 199 384 21499.089 |  97892.395

14. Tt will be seen that while the total interest charge in respect
of the Commonwealth debt increased by about £1,800,000 during
the five years, the amount of it which had to be provided by
taxation, notwithstanding the change referred to above in the
relation between deadweight War Debt and Works Debt, was
reduced only by about £120,000.
15. The position is more serious in regard to the combined debt
of the States. The proportion of the interest payable which was
available from revenue-producing assets fell and, correspondingly,
the proportion covered by taxation rose by 3.2 per cent. during
the five years. The amount covered by taxation rose by 68 per
~ent. (from £5.786.676 to £9.711.749). while the total interest