NOTES AND COMMENTS.

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXVI, Issue 20385, 14 October 1929, Page 10

NOTES AND COMMENTS.

CONTRASTS IX BRITAIN

Surveying the slate of Great Brilain through the eyes of "Macaulay's Classic New Zcalander," who he assumes is revisiting it after an absence of 16 years, a writer in the Westminster Bank Review discovers "ample matter for profound amazement." He points to the contrast between the industrial depression in what was in 1913 pre-eminently the workshop of the country and the extraordinary growth of industries then in their infancy, though not sufficient to compensate for the former, since the volume of the nation's exports is no less than 20 per cent, below the level of 1913. Having naturally concluded that Gi'eat Britain was poorer in appearance and in fact, he would find visible evidence of a diametrically opposite character in the social life of the nation, and might well infer that the vast majority of the population had abandoned all habits tf thrift and were indulging in an orgy of extravagance. But further inquiry would show that this hypothesis was scarcely tenable, since the thrift organisations of the country had at no earlier time been in so flourishing a condition. ' The primaiy influence in producing this state of affairs," says the -writer, "is undoubtedly traceable to a definite change, which came about during and since the war, in the distribution of the national income. Due allowance being made for the fact that a given amount of money buys less to-day than in 1913, it may be confidently stated that the rich are now receiving less and the poor appreciably more, in terms of money's worth, than in pre-war days. . . It is unlikely that many of the more striking examples of present-day comforts or luxuries would have been so largely purchased by persons of moderate or limited means had there not been a widespread decline in their cost since the war. Many of the articles in question are the products of the newer trades in which technical knowledge has been extended so rapidly that prices have frequently been reduced far below their pre-war level. The motorcar is a case in point."

THE NATION'S OUTLOOK. Summarising his impressions, the writer adds: —"The wealthy classcp, who exercise an influence on the total volume of national savings greatly out of proportion to their numbers, have much less to save than before the war; the middle and lower classes, who numerically form much the larger part of the population, have, on the average, more to spend. Is tho net result of these complex changes beneficial or the reverse, from the standpoint of the national welfare? The student of industry, regarding the matter from the standpoint of the aggregate national wealth—past, pvnsont and future —will express his regret that the enjoyment of a higher standard of living by many millions of people lias been accompanied by an unquestionable declino in the annual volume of national saviilgs. The student wliose sympathies arc engaged rathci with the condition of the worker himself may. reply that the fuller and more satisfying life enjoyed by tho citizens of this country at the present time has a sound, progressive, and stabilising social value, which can scarcely bo bought too dearly. Tho attitude of the majority of earnest but unbiassed observers may probably best be summed up as a desire that the progressive iise in the standard of lite of the people shall be maintained, and that the poverty Inu shall continue to recede. At the same time, without losing sight of this ideal, such responsible opinion would welcome tho early onset of a revival in industrial prosperity, which the United States has shown to bo not incompatible with a high national standard of living. Such a development would place the prospect of a' continued amelioration of (he lot of tho people of Great Britain 011 an assured and unquestionable economic baijis,"