STRIKING FACTS ABOUT STRIKING THINGS

New Zealand Mail, Issue 1665, 27 January 1904, Page 71 (Supplement)

STRIKING FACTS ABOUT STRIKING THINGS

: (By Leonard Youatt, M. 8.) ' 1 tAu, Rights Reserved.] _ ' VI. . " : ; HOW PEOPLE SPEND THEIR ' ' MONEY. In all inquiries which concern the social conditions ■ and habits of the people there are two. methods. wliic/h maybe Of these, the first deals with broad masses of information relating to the whole otr to large sections of the community, and its results are expressed in general averages which may be correct when applied to a large number of people, but which .are inadequate or mistdssddniL if iapplieiL.td individual cases. This is known as the extensive or, statistical method*'. • In the. second, or intens.Ve (method ,4k study is made of a few selected typical cases, the detailSjOf which are more carehilly examined; from these details-re-lating to.-individuals conclusions-may be drawn as to the conditions prevailing among the classes of -.which; they • are a type, . ... . . Roth tliese methods arc.of use m examining the expenditure of different classes of people, but while the first gives only the dry bones of the subject in the form of columns of figures, the second introduces the inquirer to living Iranian beings, shows the real condition of their .lives, an<l points t© their .difficulties and the shifts and devices by \vbiek these are overcome. , . .

The data, for the extensive method axe to be found in. the reports of the Board of Trade,. in the Census returns, in the reports of hospitals and in similar publications. . From these may 5 be gathered figures relating to the number and ages of the people, to their oceupat ons, their rents, the amount spent on certain articles of food and the sums oamraaliy devoted to charitable purposes: • The information required for pm-suing tlio intensive method of inquiry is not to be found in “blue books” but must be patiently collected from the people themselves. The names of Mr Charles Booth and his assistants, of Mr Rowntree and others, are intimately associated with tiiis branch of weak in England. THE EXPENDITURE ON DRINK AND TOBACCO.

There are certain portions of ordinary, expenditure to which this method of detailed inquiry has only a very lim.tsed application. For example, meet people will Tinder-estimate the amount they spend on alcoholic beverages, aryl money spent on tobacco is frequently simply classed as pocket-money. For these items recourse must be.had to official publications. With reference to the amount' spent on alcoholic liquors in Great Britain and Ireland, this was in 1901, 189 mill I .ion pounds* which is equivalent to £4 11s 2d per head of the whole population. There are, however, 14£ million children under fifteen years of age in the country, and Mr Slier we If estimates the abstainers over that age at three millions. This leaves a balance of twenty-four millions among whom the total expenditure must be distributed. The average per head among those Who take alcohol must then be close upon £B. It lias been estimated- that the working classes spend 116 millions of this amount, or over £l7 per family per year. ~ Tobacco, forms a mfctch smaller item. The amount retained for home consumption, in 1901 was 1.89 pounds per head. This is. equivalent to 6.51 b per head of the adult male population, who are the chief consumers. The, average retail price of tobacco is not easy to estimate but- probably five shill hi go a pound will not be far wrong. On this basis the, yearly expenditure on tobacco of males over sixteen years of age is 32s Gd. COMPARED WITH CHARITABLE contributions. The amount contributed to charities, is very variable, even among individuals of the same class. The total inoome of the 162 voluntary hospitals <of the United Kingdom was in 1901 £2,303,973. Tatting the 27,000,000 adullts of the country as the contributors to this fund, their annual oontrihutions only amopnt to Is 8d per head. But much of this income is derived from legacies and Aarge donations, and should these be -excluded, ■ the- average yearly contribution - would be much less than Is Bd. The 145 missionary societies of the country spend the slum of' £2,300,000 yearly, almost exactly the same amount-as the hospitals, but as their total income is less than this they seem to be steadily running ’ into debt- The average- contribution is again Is 8d a year. These are probably tHe largest- organised charities outside the operations -of the Pool* Law, but it is thought that the support of. relatives who are unable to earn their own living foams by far the:

largest item in expenditure on charity; tlie total amount of this it is quite impossible to estimate with any precision. House rent absorbs aniiuallly about 100 million pounds. Five-seven tins ot the whole number of houses are rented at less than £2O, and about half tlio total rent is levied on these small houses. - •

: Taxes, direct and indirect, amount to about £3 per head of the population, and thus sum is approximately spint as follows The army (ordinary expenses),. 14s: the navy, 15s; Civil administration, 15s (including'ss paid for educaton oub of. taxes); national debt interest and principal, 15s. A large proportion of this is really collected in tihe form of expenditure on alcohol, tobacco ; etc., and must- not be counted twice. The poor rate accounts for another 14s per head. School Board rate 3s per head, while sanitary, highways, gas, water, electric lighting rates and other items of expenditure for local purposes amount to about 20s.

. • U'iDE.R F~ ~D % I I RENTiL’A PER. hp* 7 ' | CLOTH!HQ 5/o OTHER EXS ffr —— r — — t% 30/. F°°-D TO * r —r £3.0-0 I rent 757° PtKWEtK S% j OTHER Srowing the relative proportion of tire items jvbieb. make up the expenditure of thoae. -earning less than 30s per week, and of those earning from hi 10s to h 3 per wo?k. ;... In a paper read before the British Association in September 1903, Sir Robert Giffen gave the following estimate of National expenditure :—Food and drink £468 millions, per cent, of total!, 64.; dress. £182—18; house, £223—16; maternal services (including education), £183—13; miscellaneous. £l30 —9; cost of distribution. £2O0 —15: total, £1386 —IOO. In this estimate the proportion of the cost of food and clothing, which goes in indirect taxation, is included under national services. If this luyl not been done, the amount for food and drink would have been nearly 600 millions, or 45 per cent- of the total 1 . The intensive method of the shady of expenditure was introduced by M. Ie Play, who utilised what are known as “Family Budgets.” These consist, as the name indicates, of records of income aivl expenditure, and when a number are collected and" compared, valuable informal: ionean be gained from them. Une of the pioneers in this branch of work was Dr Engel, of Saxony, who collected and analysed a large number of budgets. Budgets have been col looted and published in Britain by Mr Ulnuries Booth, (“Life and Labour of the People of London”); Mr R-owntree (“Poverty,' a study of Town Life”'); the members of the Economic Club and other workers. The following, who lias fox many years served as a standard of comparison, is Dr Engel’s summary of the budgets collected by him in Saxony in 1857. Yearly Income. _ ■ Food ... ‘ ... 62.0 55.0 50.0

Tlie most striking features of this table are the decreasing proportion spent on food as the income increases and the increasing balance left for purposes of comfort and! recreation. These features are common to all bpdgets wherever compiled. Budgets may be from accounts kept at the special request of the enquirer, or from accounts which 'have been kept in the ordinary course of events. In either case thefe is a possible source of error; the man who habitually keeps -accurate accounts for bis own purposes is haijdly a fair average type ; while in accounts which are kept for supervision by an outsider entries of expenditure on the less worthy objects are likely to be minimised. These factors require to be borne in mind in'examining such statements* The collector of family budgets is introduced to many facts bearing on the economic condition of the working diasses which can hardly find, expression in the budgets themselves. _ The work entitled "‘Family Budgets,” issued by the Economic Club, contains in its monographs many passages which illustrate this point* For example; in one case the mother of a family observed tKalB "syrup is cheaper than treadle be-

cause it is thinner and spreads further.” In another case it .was the custom to send the yob ng children for “haporths” in place of buying definite and larger quantities. The child got the benefit of the dqabt in measurement, and these small advantages mountedjup to a considerable gain in, the course of time. The budgets in Mr Booth’s woik on London are summarisqd thus:

When this is reduced to* one week, and expressed in the form of percentages it stands as follows: — •

Here again food absorbs a much larger proportion of the total income where that income is small. and*at the same time the .feed consists more largely of bread. In the poorest class the average amount remaining after food bills and rent arc paid is only H>id per week. Fnc, light, clothing, qtucation and recreation to be provided for 10id per week! The two diagrams are based on figures taken from the “Family Budgets’’ of the Economic Club. I have divided the budgets into classes with incomes above and below 25s per week. In all cases the total was below £3 weekly. \ The following were the average weekly bills in the two classes; —

In the diagrams the above figures are expressed in the form of percentages; in the first the total expenditure is divided amongst food, rent, clothes and other expenses. In the second, the proportional expenditure on the chief articles of food is shown. UDDER I BRLMS&^ --, r . ----IT* 304 ' ' W&TB6A ■ / OTHER PER WEEK j rfA 6 breadZo to ® MEAT >51% J OTHER Showing how the proportions of food-stuff consumed! varies in comparison with weekly earnings. The expenditure of the rich can hardly bo summarised into the form of budgets. or expressed by diagrams. The entries for comfort axyl recreation would be out- of all propoxition to those for the | necessities of life, and une resulting bud- ( gets would vary chiefly according to the favourite recreatioii of the indi- • viduajl. Ono wealthy man is reported to have spent £400,000 in about seven years in attempting to win a single yacht race. If a diagram Were constructed of simitar form’ to those in this article, and a reasonable expend)- ! ture on bread were represented by a ! column one inch in height, the column | for amusement would in this case be j almost a mile high. j

Clothing 16.0 18.0 18.0 Lodging 12.0 12.0 12.0 Light and Fuel 5.0 5.0 5.0 Education 2.0 3.5 5.5 Legal Protection ... 1.0 2.0 3.0 Caro of Health. \ i.o . 2.0 3.0 Comfort and Recreation ... 1.0. 2.5 3.5

Proportional Expenditure :rr *>. . s. d. S. d. 8. < a. 8. - d. Received in 5 154 weeks ... ... 87 0 117 6 ’ 125 9 4 Expended in 5 weeks: — 65 2| 86 Total food ... 60 5H 64 6 7 Bread ... ... 12 6 13 7i 9 8* 11 0i Rent ... 21 6 26 H 23 7* 28 Ei

8. d. s. d. s. d. s. d. Inoojiig per week 17 5 23 6 25 2 30 10 Proportional expenditure:— SFood ... ... 70.0 65.0 53.5 5C.0 Rent ... ...25.0 22.0 18.5 13.0 Other expenses ... 5.0 23.0 28.0 / 2S.0 100. 100. 100. 100. Bread (per cent, of total expenditure on food) 29.5 21.0 14,0 13.0

Bread Incomes Incomes under 25s. above 25s. 2 6 3 8 Meat ... ' ... . ... a 7 5 9 Tea ... 0 6 o iii Other food ... 3 6 8 li Rent ... 2 0 4 6 Clothes ... 0 8 2 9£ Other expenses... ... 2 8 8 n Total ... 14 5 34 5 Total food ... ... 9 1 18 6