THRIFT.

Lyttelton Times, Volume XCVIII, Issue 11462, 28 December 1897, Page 3

THRIFT.

TO THE EDITOR

Sib, —Thrift aptly illustrates the truth of the saying of Shakspere, “ Virtue itself turns vice being misapplied.” When practised in the sense of economy, which is properly defined as making the best use of the money, talents and opportunities with which a person is endowed, it is one of the greatest social virtues, and neither individualist nor socialist state could prosper without it. But when practised in a parsimonious spirit of avarice, it becomes what J. S. Mill repeatedly characterises as the most despicable of human vices. It is only by thrift of the latte,r description that a wage-earner can ever raise himself out of his own class, and then only by forcing someone else down, for the proportion of rich to poor in an individualist State is fixed within very narrow limits as unchangeably as a mathematical problem.—l am, &c., OUDEIS.

TO THE EDITOR. Sir, —After wishing yon the compliments, of the season, I wish to make a confession,, and that is, I have not been as thrifty during the last week as I might have been. In fact, I believe I could have saved -£.‘s if I had been as thrifty as I am told I should be., But I have been thinking the matter over, and the thought struck me, supposing I had my £3, and everybody else had been equally as thrifty, and saved their 10s, <£l, £3, £5, or £lO, as the case might b 6, how would the tradesmen have fared P Many of them trust to doing a good trade at Christmas time. And then, again, how many would have been disappointed if they had not got their little presents ? Supposing, ■ for argument’s sake, all the thriftless money which has been spent during this last week, and for the last year, forth© matter of that, had not been put into circulation, what better off - would the community beas a whole ? A s I look back I can see whore I could have saved money. From four to five pounds might have been saved by doing without newspapers, books and periodicals. The Lyttelton Times and Star alone have cost me £2 12s, and then I am sure that postage for letters and papers has cost me fully Is per, week more. And then my pipe, which is a . real luxury, has cost from Is to Is (id per week. I might have put up with a more miserable house and saved* a few more pounds, and we mioht have done with less tea, milk and sugar, and the cost of the little f ru it of which I do not consider we have had half enough might have been saved. Possibly, too, our bill for clothing, boots and shoes, Ac., might have been curtailed, although I cannot say ■we have been too extravagant with outwearing apparel; and yet, with the thrift we are taught we should practise, we mio-ht have saved something toward ourolda"0 which w© may never see. Our church money has cost my family on an average fully 2s fid a week, and then again it has cost us fully the same amount in gifts to those less fortunate than ourselves, all of which toight have been saved if we had only practised thrift. This last week I should have liked to have done ten times more than I have done towards making others happy, but I have had to practise self-denial to do the little I have done. All the thriftless money spent during the holidays is now in circulation, and how often it will change hands during the coming year is more than I can say. The point I want to get at is, is thrift-a blessing or a curse? With all my heart, I believe it is a curse if carried to extremes-, -Trade -would- be-ten -times- -wotseif-overy^

body was thrifty, and employment of all kinds would be much scarcer and the poor poorer still. If more humanity was both taught and practised, instead of so much .thrift, it would, in my estimation, be better for the world at large, and we should have merrier Christmases and more happy and prosperous New Years. —I am, Ac,, ONE OF THE THRIFTLESS.