§ Before announcing what measures Her Majesty's Government propose to take to deal with these, I will just indicate some of the other factors which have caused us to take action. The sum total of consumers' expenditure remains too high. The Index of Weekly Wage Rates, for example, rose by no less than 5 points between December and March, when a good many of the large wage claims were settled. But the figures now available show that it rose by another 3 points between March and June, and has since risen again by a further point. And new wage claims are now being pressed forward. At the same time, the level of dividend distribution has continued to rise—reports published by industrial companies in the first nine months of this year show an increase in net dividends of 22 per cent. over the corresponding period of 1954; on a gross basis, that is before deduction of tax, the increase is about 207 19½ per cent. The conclusion is inescapable, that we must design our policies so that they face up to, and cope with, the danger to the economy—and especially to our competitive power—of a further expansion of incomes and of consumer demand.