NOTES AND COMMENTS.

New Zealand Herald, Volume L, Issue 15233, 21 February 1913, Page 6

NOTES AND COMMENTS.

FEWER TRAMWAY ACCIDENTS. One;of the romances .: of invention was glanced at in the evidence given before a committee . inquiring iptp; street- accidents in London. The ? guard' which is fitted to all tramcars to prevent persons - getting? under the wheels in.case of accident ; was the invention, of a foreman, who attached so little .value;to what ho had done that, he did not patent the device. To-day it is in general xtM' oh ; tramcars. The j man ) whose brain 'evolved the idea has reaped nothing from it,' where he might have made a fortune. ' This is the old sto?y.of an inventive brain which does not appreciate the significance of what it has accomplished. .. Fyri'^nes haye been reapedfrom " matched, "}3',f.t the inventor of the lucifer match: }gfyyi his discovery to the world without, taking I that •he had done more than wo&ld j\Tba obvious to anybody of: intelligence. : The figures given- before the committed as >; to the decline in the number of ; iiccidtnts .. arising from tramcars are very striking. ; In 1908 48 persons wero killed and 1721 injured, while 597,000,000 lof .-/ passengers were carried. 1 Last year 38 were killed atrii $62 injured, though the number of paayengcrs ■ was 819,000,000. There has been a progressive decline ; in the number of; ; accidents, side by sid'> wish an increase u;. the number of. passengers. ' ■

' THE QUALITY OF THRIFT, '. ," , the past 12- months," says B'.'f : i? s : X e k>mpPon, in Munsoy'sMagazine, "X h,+:m travelled ■ from 'VtAe Atlantic to the £e.-ci&c, studying the financial captains of various typical .'American cities, anil especially the sources .of their wealth. One-of the striking revelations of this experience •was the fact that, almost [ without exception, an early appreciation .of thrift was the principal equipment of most, of thti» men. who amassed Trillions. Thus therjj is nothing uhcani^jc' or mysterious alx.ut ; the beginnings of riches. ; Thrift, combined with vision and the realisation and ; capitalisation of opportunity, :is \the simplft; formula of vast estate. To write about)". thrift is to write about saving. Hero you touch at what has been wellnanXed the symbol and instrument 'of. man's independence. It is even more than this, for it means the very corner-stone of ',, wealth and the beginning of all investment, There is a big difference between saving ■• and hoarding. . Stowing away monov in fear of the traditional-rainy day at the expense of comfort and self-respect becomes mere hoarding, and as such defeats the very fundamental purpose of thrift. Saving, in its better aspect, means character. When money is saved and employed for a definite purpose it becomes the most constructive agency of human .progress. The moment you put your funds, no matter how small/ out to labour in safety, regardless i; 'of 'j the ; medium chosen, you become an investor, because your' capital is earning something. When you turn to Europe, you find out what thrift really is. > Here is an example well worth heeding, for the most prosperous European countries are the "<j?vfy strongholds of saving. Closely related is their remarkable machinery for the conservation and safe employment of their savings. Take the case of France. Despite the fact that our resources are much greater, and the average -wage of ihe American worker much higher than the Frenchman's,- -the investing power of the Gallic Republic is greater than that of the United "States. Why? Simply because her people are a virion of savers. It is the sum of email savings that forms the huge reservoir of public wealth which gives a country practical immunity from the ■ swift ravage of panic and financial depression. Tl-« French are undoubtedly ■ ;he most systematic savers of all Europe. Their children are taught the value of a centime as soon as the first coin gets into their little gritsp* The French are not hoarders/ As soon as they have enough to invest they put it out to work. The Government aids in this ambition by providing safe securities of small denomination. This is why the butcher, the baker, and the caiidlestick-maker--<ven the scrubwomen are investors, or they own ; rentes, or Government bonds, which may bo had in pieces as small as 100 francs, or 20 dollars. The average Frenchman also buys bonds of the Credit Fonder, the great mortgage bank which pools mortgages and issues securities against -the : group. Like the rentes, these are: in small denominations [jaxd. accessible to everybody. •■ The Credit

Foncier bonds are quoted and dealt, in dp'. most of the bourses ,of Europe, and are therefore very '; marketable. In Germany, | thrift probably has its highest development in the operation of the so-called co-opera- j tive savings: banks. :: They are .really, arid truly :' people'a banks/ for the; depositors j have a voice in their ownership : and conduct. In these banks the rule is ' inaxi-; mom of responsibility ; rairunium of risk; maximum of ;! publicity.' ; The Germain j banks y have' been called 'the second degree )of saving,' because. they enable the j small farmer to buy :■• his farm, the Email shopkeeper to purchase his shop, and the | clerk to own his own home.- There are two great systems of banks. One is called ] the Schultze-Delitchj'J a combination of the name of the founder and his k home :;■ city. The* other operates as the Kaiffeissen : system, also named from its founder. Almost any citizen, no matter how ; humble, can own stock in these banks.? ; Some shares are as low as 30 marks, which is a little more'': than- seven dollars. They may be bought on the instalment plan, and they pay dividends. It has been well said that 'he who builds Eaiffeisseri banks destroys almshouses.' . And , so it goes'.'.- almost all over Europe. : : Everywhere the average man, woman, or child is taught the beneficent effects of thrift, and everywhere some safe and y- accessible agency is provided for the ' employment of savings. Nothing: advances a nation m permanent prosperity as this very quality of thrift; In its development lies the surest safeguard of progress."