NOTES OF THE DAY

Dominion, Volume 22, Issue 15, 12 October 1928, Page 10

NOTES OF THE DAY

Although the system of spot fines recently instituted in Paris is open to obvious abuse there is much to be said for it in many other ways. In New York, of course, where a similar system has been in vogue for a number of years, motorists have appreciated the saving in time that such a system brings them. To be a success a system such as this must rely entirely on the integrity of the police administering the fines, and it cannot be said that the New York police are at all times adverse to receiving a let-off gratuity or of pestering some innocent motorist against whom they bear a grudge. However, the more leisurely methods in vogue in England are probably just as expensive to the motorist.

Methods of mass production having been applied to the manufacture of aeroplanes .in the United States, machines are now being produced in large quantities in record time. In view of the progress America has made in the manufacture of aeroplanes, it is, therefore, gratifying to learn that a British firm has received an order .from New York, for 50 light ’planes. During the last few months evidence has been forthcoming that British .industries are rapidly regaining the premier position they held in the world’s markets prior to the war. The latest recognition of Britain s engineering skill in the production of aircraft, coming from a country noted for its air development, is surely an indication that the inherent honesty and pride which Britain puts into its every product compels the admiration of the industrial world.

Why Mr. Holland persists in decrying loans on mortgage is difficult to understand. How the farmers of New Zealand could have managed to get along without them no one outside the LabourSocialist group of theorists would attempt to explain. But it is clear that what the Leader of the Opposition does not know about mortgages and their uses would fill quite a large book. One of the points which he sought to make against the Government in his Masterton speech was that during the tenure of office of the Reform Government the land value in New Zealand had increased from £315 000 000 to £618,250,000, while during the same period mortgages had increased from £88,500,000 to £302,666,000. Mr. Holland appeared to regard r'-is evidence of the facilities afforded the farming community for securing loans as a reflection on the Government. The more mortgage advances there were the worse the Government apparently was his line of reasoning. However, taking Mr. Holland’s own figures and conclusions he does not seem to understand that money borrowed on mortgage on land is not the mere piling up of debt without return. According to his own showing,, the owners’ equity in the land (that is, the value above the mortgages) when the Government came into office was £226,500,000 while on the latest figures available it had increased to £315,584,000. So in spite of the mortgages which Mr. Holland bewails, the borrowers on his own figures are over £89,000,000 better off to-day.