OUR WEALTH.

Auckland Star, Volume LXV, Issue 9, 11 January 1934, Page 5

OUR WEALTH.

OFFICIAL ESTIMATES. HEAVY RECENT DISCOUNTS. NEW FIGURE, £410 PER HEAD. 'By Telegraph.—Own Correspondent.) WELLINGTON, this day. Time was when New Zealanders could boast, on tlic authority of the Government Statistician, that the private wealth of their country equalled over £600 per head of every person in it. But the latest compilation by the same authority places the figure at £410. However, if adults only are considered, the total of private wealth now amounts to £(300 per head. There has tjeen a good deal 'of discounting of these figures during recent slump years. They are based on the returns of estates assessed for death duties; on the assumption that the average wealth of the living is equal to that of those who have died during recent years. To avoid the inflation which would be caused if particularly large estates came into the return in one j year, an average is taken of five years, and a further precaution during the depression has been a discounting of values. It is estimated, on the basis of movement in share values, that 23 per cent should be taken off the value of real estate, and this discounting process causes the Government Statistician to write off 112 millions from the estimates of private wealth published in the official Year Book just circulated. It is considered that the private wealth of the Dominion at the end-of 1932, on the basis of values then ruling, was 600 millions, equal to £410 per head, of all population, or £660 per adult. Maori wealth has not been calculated, but it is considered that it would not add more than 5 per cent to the aggregate, thus Bringing it to 625 millions. Land is the principal asset of New Zealanders, and it accounts for 239 millions of value. Incidentally, it is mortgaged to the extent of £157,416,000.

National Wealth. To ascertain the national wealth the public assets have to be counted. These are shown as £252,000,000 net. They represent actual publiu property, but the expenditure of the State on roads, immigration and the development of mining has not been credited to that total. And although much of the expenditure of local bodies has been on streets, roads and bridges, the Government Statistician cautiously omits their estimated value from his assessment of local body assets, which he places at £90,271,000. Taking public and private assets, the national wealth of the Dominion is shown to be as follows: £ Public wealth 340,000,000 Privaite wealth 025,000,000 Total 965,000,000 Less public and local body debt held in Dominion 160,000,000 Net national wealth £805,000,000

The local tody and Government securities held by New Zealanders are deducted because they already figure as private wealth assets. Of the gross public debt £118,000,000 is domiciled in New Zealand, while the local bodies owe New Zealanders about £41,000,000, and hospital board debt similarly held is about a million sterling.