MONDAY, OCTOBER 8, 1934. THRIFTY AND CAUTIOUS.

Auckland Star, Volume LXV, Issue 238, 8 October 1934, Page 6

MONDAY, OCTOBER 8, 1934. THRIFTY AND CAUTIOUS.

Of equal importance with Labour's emphatic rejection of Sir Stafford Cripps' plan for rapid socialisation is the overwhelming vote recorded against State confiscation of Britain's key industries. Nothing could be more decisive than the fourteen to one majority which moved Mr. Herbert Morrison to remark, "The workers are sometimes more concerned about their investments than the capitalists are about theirs," and to recall that at the last election the workers were mortally afraid for their humble savings. Why not? A thrifty nation does not favour revolutionary changes. It stands for "safety first." Small savings in Britain were estimated recently to exceed £2,400,000,000, and as a result of increasing facilities for small investment, the total was steadily growing. • Associations founded to encourage saving now number more than 33,000, and the amount represented in savings certificates alone is at least £.160,000,000. Besides this, over £205,000,000 is invested through trustee savings banks, and over £515,000,000 through the Post Office Savings Bank. So these three allied branches, operating as thrift institutions, under State supervision', have capital resources exceeding £1,240,000,000. To complete the picture it is necessary to take account of the huge sum now controlled by building societies, friendly societies and trade unions. In New Zealand the same movement can be traced. The amount to the credit of depositors in the trustee savings banks is now well above £10,500,000, showing a continued growth during the years of depression, and the Post Office Savings Banks total is moving up again after having slipped back by several millions.

Commenting last year on influences at work in Britain, Professor Bowley, an authority in these matters, said: "The general result of.the whole system of taxation, wage adjustments and social expenditure has been a very marked redistribution of the national income. . . . The very rich have less than half their pre-war income (allowing for taxes and change of prices); the least well-off of the working class have gained most. Between these two extremes the tendency is almost throughout in the same direction." This means that small savings are filling the gap, or part of it, made by the shrinkage higher up in the scale of incomes. Nor because an industry is big does it mean that it is owned by large investors. The Socialists who propose to take over finance and industry do not say whether they propose to distinguish between the "working-class" capitalist and the capitalist who is the object of their attacks, nor how such distinction could be made. The small capitalist is of much more importance than he was, and with many hundreds of millions widely distributed among persons of small means the nation has greater economic and social stability. AN EXAMPLE FROM INDIA. In editorial comment on the refusal of the sheep farmers to agree to a compulsory levy on wool for research purposes, the Dunedin "Star" mentions a fact of exceptional interest. The jute industry, which has fallen on difficult days, has invited Dr. S. G. Barker, Director of Research in the British Research Association for the Woollen and Worsted Industries, to go to India, study conditions on the spot, and organise a scheme of research. It is understood that Dr. Barker will turn his attention chiefly to the finding of fresh markets and uses for the fabric and this is the point to which these remarks are leading: "It may interest wool growers to learn that before leaving England Dr. Barker exhibited samples of blankets and other goods made from jute." In other words, at the time that j an attempt is being made in New Zealand to use flax fibre in the making of wool packs, for which jute has hitherto been employed, India is trying to displace wool with jute. This one fact should be quite sufficient to make New Zealanders realise the value of scientific research in primary industries. "Presumably," says the "Star," "wool growers know their own business best; but, if ever there was a time when research was needed, it is now." One may doubt this presumably, but there is not the slightest room for doubt about the other proposition.

CHEERFUL ACCOUNTS. There have not been of late many annual meetings of companies so cheei'ful as the proceedings in Hamilton on Saturday when the shareholders of the Farmers' Co-operative Auctioneering Company passed the annual accounts and re-elected directors. The phrase "successful year" has more than its usual significance when applied to the business of this company, for all business concerns have been contending with difficulties, and those that deal with farmers have been faced with special problems. The facts that this Waikato company made a net profit of £33,000, compared with £5000 two years ago, and lias resumed the paying of ordinary dividends, are sufficiently striking to be noted. They testify not only to the skill with which the company's business has been conducted, both before the slumj began, and since, but to the degree of economic recovery that the Auckland province is experiencing. The directors and shareholders are to bo congratulated on these results.