NOTES OF THE DAY.

Dominion, Volume 3, Issue 642, 20 October 1909, Page 6

NOTES OF THE DAY.

Professor H.: D. Bedford, M.A., LL.B., lecturer on Political Economy at Otagp University College contributes to the current number of th.p Fijwncial Review of Reviews, which/damp to hand by this week'sc mail, an interesting':article on the "Geographical Distribution of Capital." Professor Bedford, whoso name,' by the way, 19.misspelt Beafdrd, will be:, bettercremembered in, this city as one of tho\Dunedin representatives, in Parliament a few'years back. His contentions', in 'the' article in question are grouped undpri three heads: (1) . Geographical distribution will rodupe 'speculation to a minimum. (2) Will conduce to the comity of nations. (3) Will mitigate the intensity pf'commercial.crises, 1 Professor: Bedford/ cjpes,not' attempt to I argue that speculation can be entirely eliminated from investments and busi-M ness .undertakings.' His- Contention is j that' experience shows that whilst: all.' countries suffer more"qr less from'alternations of expanding and contracting trade, these ue not occur; contempprall countries.' The copse-: quence is thatrwhild in one country the value of stock'is falling, it is rising in | another/; The investor, ' thorcfore,_ whp has ■' his investments judiciously distrib?' ! lited bvor different countries' is protected against loss to'an.extent which he.could not arrange by 'an investment, 'say, in British securities . exclusively, however carefully selected. Following this lino of argument it. is oasy to seo how Professor Bedford at his second point. Assuming thati,the' capitalists of the world proceed to invest'on this principle, the .result, would be that the' moneyed. men of every nation' would have a dirett financial interest in the maintenance' pf the world^s'peace. .The Frenchman or the German, or tho investor of any nationality wpultl suffer loss pp his investments'in other' 'countries wefa" those other cpuntries to be pmbrpilpc- iri, : war .with' each other., Therefore it/'is his endeavour to maintain, peace throughout |he world. In- other words]: ': " Thp geographical distribution' pf capital will make fripridji-. ness amongst nations profitable, and-when friendliness . ! pays' thero is a large/ assurance of its fJQinß_maihtained,".;' Tho. thjrd' pnint—'fhe,' jnitigatipn pf cpmmer,cjal crises—is dppcnclent, like the- ptliprs, on tjip extent to which ..investors .distribute their,.capital indifferent countries. Fpr_ instance,; in'..the ■event 1 ;of a denrpssiph in.J?H^s!} Ms' P ■consequential fallen the : value of jnvcstp)ent',stqc)c,'tfip outside investor would seize ■ltHe l'.:opportunity to purchase" British"'Eccufities' at' top reduced figure,.. Mrt-ihs ■-.increaefld demand for stock thus' created would pperate.'to ;check the' : fall, while.'at .the. same time assisting to relieve. the. financial stringency. Professor Bedford is pptimistic'.enpugh f,o believe that there is a streng assurance pf ■' tlio realisation of this ideal investment' reform on the ground that it is based upon the certain .financial benefit-of ■■ the individual investor. ' »,. . ■"•

\ The ,Phi'me_ Minister's 'proposal that a district which wants a railway must "sfyqw.-j)b .fp,ith ", by. paying a subvention to bring' the "net profit on working'.' up'to 3 per oeiit. has. called forth some very'extraordinary .'comment. Wo are told by one critic that "the principle may be regarded as unexceptionable," and this critic goes on to make a statement which, if it had been pondered for' a''mqment longer, would have shown that,tjioprinciple which |s callpd'" upcxcbptiopable " is'thqroughly' unsound. This is the staterrippt:' -If'the residents qf the district are. to bqpr ivhatpvc'r Jobs may. be on the running of the' line,' they are plainly entitled to a'voice-intho manner of its construction." That is porfectly true.' But-is it not obvious 'also that if the residents are to make good any loss they should likewise .rccoivo any profit that is made 1 You cannot have an East without'implying a West, a positive with'put ..a \ corresponding 'negative. If • jt- is. prppey that-the residents of any distrjet-'which .is sprved' by'a non-paying railway shall pay,a sum that will make tlie net return 'on .working 3i per cent., ■iij is proper that, th'p' resiifents of a district in .which the' return'' from the'railway is over 3 per cent/should be handed back '.the-: surplus. As we pointed out yesterday, the Government, if it believes that a railway should not be built, has no right to encourage the establishment of ■that railway.' And' if a, railway in any district'isnrpper-tfl be built, why cjpps not the Gpvprnmpnt build /it? Either a railway should'be cqnstrupfcpp!' liepauso' its inherent, merits and tho public interest justify jt, or it should. be ]cft alone. It 'is : not a-question'of expense or"" faith,''' but of providing railways that are considered advisable. The only proper alternative to the §tatpV ujidprtak|ng tho ■building 'of-'any line'is obviously the' granting of .permission for'a line to be built wholly by private enterprise.-''.'•-.''':.

It will be remembered'that in "his general demiricia'tjoirdf British methods, Slit Bqp.PRT Stout made the following statement: '■' Your Government takes next to no. pains to help the farin'pr.' You have hardly any experimental* few agricultural; colleges; next tfl-'nci expert advisers anywhere." An article 1 in one of $?-'■ VWbm Of ,fjlp bfizfttf shows that this'statement is. in-, correct. England and Wales arc, in proportion to.tjjijjr agricultural population, mprp libera|),v supplied, than aw .'country yjtn. <fericu}ti)ra|. cpllpgoa',. Eleven sncl) institutions are inspected and 'subsidised by the Board of Agriculture;' As to experimental farms, thcro is the famous ExnPFimfintftl' SfijMop' lit' .ftothams'tcd, tj)6 Duke of Bedford's' fruit-culture', farm at Woburn._ while experimental farms are conducted jn >connectjnin with, 'the Universities of Aberystwyth, Bangor, Gambridge apd Lepds, witl) Armstrong, Har-per-Adams, Beading and Wye ; Colleges, ' the. lljdginqpt Agricultural Institute, the Midland Dairy Institute, and at ITulton,in■• Lancashjrci nptto, , montjqn others.' Professor Oampiikm,, Assistant'Socrotary te the Irish 'Deparfmei}); of Agriculture, stated in his evidence linfbrb- Lpßp'ltfe)|Y's Committee that !in respect qf > demonstration plots for farmers -Brijs q'nsidpVably'alicacj'of most Continental countries! ; ; That • this..means■' a gopcl deal ffjll be cjear wh'ph it,is stated i^jit-L:Jn„;„.P.i>iiiii(ji_.,;,ii.lnnci^;.;l.hfli.i,j;::.*.o:i.a..

secondary character, 22 of a still lower grade, ; 138 winter schools, and 177 special schools, dealing with such subjects .as dairying, farriery and agriculture. Denmark has ono college of the first rank and fifty-four intermediate schools. These arc figures which should act as a spur upon the HoK. T. Mackenzie. New Zealand has obviously still a great deal to dp befpro she can be considered even moderately up-to-date in'the scientific encouragement of agricultural efficiency.'"

TitE banqueting:of the three defeated Government . candidates at Mangawcka on ■ Monday evening last 'appears to have passed off vcrv successfully. The Native Minister . must have . been unusually "energetic, for thp report- pf,the proceedings credits him .with a two hours' speech. A good deal of his oration was devoted to abuse of his political opponents and defending the actions, of Ministers, It is really very amusing to read his remarks under these heads. \Ve doubt if any : Minister has quite equalled the record of Mr. Carroll on this occasion. He succeeded in crowding into his speech practically the whole of the great Btring of high-sounding, but empty, generalities which gp.to make up the main part of Ministers' speeches on such occasions.. Here is'a specimen: ■ .

The Government had addressed, themselves always to the furtherance of the.interests of the farming community, to the amelioration of the conditipn of the masses, to the solution of problems which ever'and anoh. faced them, to the, upraising of. the labouring'classes, tq the encouragement of the' small farmer, Iq the further subdivision of r largo estates,' to. thp assistance that could be given to tho struggling settlers througl) ft)?',- mqtjiuni of the advances to settlers,, to'.'the puj-pos.es enibodiod in the Land fpr, Settlcrnent Act, to the placing qf the heavier incidence of taxation on the shoulder? best able to bear thq burden,, to the remission of tnxatjqn'pn.thp necessaries of-Jife, and to the sottlepient cf the.Native land question, by ; .which Europeans would get facilities for acquiring the land by way ; of loaso or,: purchase, and. tup reservation of areas, fqr. the'use and maintenance of tho Maori owners.. :

Mr. Carroll would be puzzled indeed to 'give any details of the "problems solved," qv of ''the upraising; of the'labouring classes," or of "the furtherance- of the in- : tcrcsts of the farming community, 1 ' or .encouragement of'the small farmer," or ''the amelioration'of .the' condition : of; the masses,*' or v .indeo'd of anything outside the advances to settlors and, the Land for- Settlements' Act, which : were legacies from their predecessors in office. But these things have been repeated in a parrot-like fashion for a .long time, and as they sound wplj, and as there is,nothing in the Government's policy, to replace thorn, we have no doubt they will continue to be used. -Mr, ByflDO'grgply, t6 theqriticß; >vho have, commented p'n 'the large number of departures from the country during'the past six months makes it quite evident that the Minister'has a very low opinion of thq intelligence of the public. Ho stated that'tl)c. Arrivals for, the, 1 ' njnp jnonths. of the present year wpr'e" $1,106 and tho departures 27,441; and ho called tin's "the true position,'' in answer to those;who stated that thousands had left' the Dominion.: He even went so far. as. to say that 35, the difference between' the: two sets of figures, would be difficult to: mul,tip|y into thousands/ : Yet MrV Euppq must know that.this is not "the'true posir tion" at all. .Ho must kpow that the' pre: vious year—in fact, he admitted • itWthq arrivals had;exceeded the' departures by many : thousands, and tjiis has bpen the case for many years.past;'.Jho true posi : tipn. is";thatvs'Q many pcopfe 'left' tl]o; Do? minion during the past six .months, that despite all tho-assisted immigration and tho,immigpation'],witho'ufJ'a»sisttt'h'ce,< , thcro has been' an ; arrivals,, where usually there is an excess of j'niany.thousand arrivals, Wp-'rcgret this* position quite as much as Mr., Burao'or' anyonecisp, but wo cannot soe any use in, shutting our c'ycs.-'or' attempting to blind the-public, as to facts. Much more ;to the point:wquJd-.it have .-been for the Minister to-have frankly faced an. unpleasant situation;and ondpaypurcdito devise'means ] of stopping the.ox'qpjus,. ThV} first.gtep »n this direction is the opening up of land for settlement. •;.'.-'-