LONDON CHAT.

Otago Daily Times, Issue 14355, 27 October 1908, Page 10

LONDON CHAT.

(Prom Our Own Correspondent.) LONDON,. September 11. The latest project of the scaremongers is that uf_ an anti-patent coalition against Great ISiitain in order to compel this country to modify tlio Patents Act which was -pawed last year. The ■ schema shadowed forth is rather vague and hazy, hut- it, is suggested that each country should pass restrictive- patent laws. An attempt is to he made, in fact, to isolate this country on the patents question, but it is not shown 'w the system would work. The patentee of an'invention is naturally anxious that his patent should have as wide a field as possible,, and it would he no benefit to him to deprive himself of the power of taking out a patent in tins country. On the other hand, to prevent British subjects from taking out valuable patents in other countries would be an act of special unfriendliness. Mr Lloyd George's Act docs not prevent foreigners talcing out patents in thiß country. It 'merely requires Mat tho goods produced under it shall he made m this country. To erect .1 special prohibition against British patents would be- so strong and hostile a- Treasure- that 110 .State is likely to adopt it. If, however, any country did adopt so extreme a step as that, even Freetraders would begin to talk of retaliation. The accounts of the British Olympic Ai-cociation, made up to July 31, have been submitted to an interim audit. A completo audit can hardly be looked for till toward the end of the year, but it can bo stated at once that the financial outlook is quite satisfactory. The cash account to July 31 shows receipts aggregating £16,668, of which £14,029 is Ihe proceeds of public subscriptions arid £4834 paid over on account of the stadium gato money. Tho actual expenditure ' at the same date was only £6111, but this did not include outstanding claims amounting to £5692, a figure which has been subsequently increased. The expenses of -the autumn and winter «m& have also to be provided for, but it is possible to forecast with confidence that there will he a substantial surplus when the aecotutts have been finally adjusted. This will constitute a nucleus of a muoh-necded fund for assisting British athletes to attend future- Olympic celebrations. Presiding, at flic- meeting of the New Jagcrsfonteiu Mining and Exploration Company, Colonel Harris said that owing to the severe depression in the market during the past 12 months, the company's profit had been £268,894, which was £160,000 below last year's. After £34',320 had been written off for depreciation, dividends totalling a quarter of a million had been pa-id, while £61,000 had been carried forward. Diamonds had realised £711,543, with 1,801,500 loads of ground still on the floors. He pointed out that the industry had survived the crisis, and was now on .1 steady road to recovery. Since the middle of July there -had been a decided improvement. 1 Mr F. L. Hoffman, a well-known American actuary, has been investigating State lifo assurance as practised in New Zealand, and his conclusions arc of extreme interest to students of Socialism.- .Mr lioil'man points out that the Government Life. Asii-urii-nce Department in New Zealand his been in operation for 37 years and private companies from 13 to 45 years. The latter, he says, are constantly gaining on the .Government. The aggregate life insurance business in New land has increased, in the last 10 yearn nearly 60 per cent., while .'the per cent, of the Government Life Insurance to total shows a declining ratio as follows:— 1897, 47.8 per cent.; 1905, 38.9 per cent. 'J'ho expenses of management of the pri vate companies are 17.5 per cent., in tho Government Life Insurance Department 17.3 per cent. The Government Department is favoured in the matter of taxation amounting to 3.3 per cent, of its premium income, as against 3.9 per cent, in private offices. (t Tho Labour Department of the Board of Trade has issued a report on changes in. rates of wages and hours of labour in 1907. It shows that in that year the upward movement, which had begun in 1905, reached its highest point, the net rise in wages per week having amounted to nearly £201,000., Toward,.the end of 1905 rat-os of wag'ie began to iiee, and in lao 6' a net weekly advance of £58,000 .was recorded in the wages of those. affected. In 1907 this upward movement- reached it-, highest point, the net rise per week being £201,000, an amount only £7000 lower than that of the record year 1900. The recent upward movement was arrested early in 1908, so that it has'lasted' a- considerably shorter timo than either the previous decline of 1901-5 or the upward movement of 1896-1900. The large increase in wages in 1907 was almost entirely due to advances in the coal mining industry, miners in every coalfield having received a net rise in. rates of wages. All other groups of trades showed net increases during tho year, but, except in the textile group, the amount of the advance was small. The aggregate recorded advance in industries other .than, coal mining was £27,300 per week, and of thi* £11,600 was due t« .advances in the textile group. Altogether over 1,246.000 workpeople had their rates of wages changed in 1907. Of this number about 1.243.000 received advances amounting to £201,200 per week, aad about 3000 sustained decreases amounting to £2CO p--r week. The bulk of the increase of wages occurred in the coal mining industry, the textile-trades following next. There were hist year 36,207 workpeople whose hours were'affected, as against 54,954 in the. previous year. The net tutrl amount of reduction jit hours per week was 78,975. a smaller reduction than in the former year. The prcmiminary figures for'the first'six months of the present year show, on the other hand, a fall in the wag.s. Altogether 851,000 workpeople suffered, and the net result so far is a decrease' of £16,000 per week. Though the prospects of trade for the winter are not very bright, there are some departments of tho 'industry where things have taken a turn for the better. The building trade, under the stimulus of cheaper money, ; s becoming more active, and if there ic, iw rife in the rate of discount it will continue to improve. It (g believed _ah> that the tide'has turned in tho shipbuilding and in the iron trades. If this should pro re to be more than a temporary spurt things may go better in the. winter than ma.iy people anticipate. It i;s .staled that- .more British capita] was received bv Canada last year than was sent to at' the rest of the British pojKcsioiK, inciudinjr India. Apropos of (lie recently published Board of Trade returns for August a serious falling otf is exhibited in the importation of wines from all countries for the eight months of the present year, as compared with the corresponding period of last year. The (femes arc:—l9o7, 8,505,379m1; 19C8, 7,586.019ga1; showing a decveasc of 919,360ga1. The gold output of the Transvaal for August once anain creates a record, the total being 3358 a?, above the previous highest. In August last year the output was valued at £2,357.602. The labour figures are equally satisfactory, and speak well for the future of the 'industry. The number of natives distributed during the month was 11.988, which represents a net gain for the month of 1209; the total number employed was 133,518, There is talk in the eitv of thcWanganui Corporation floating a loan 0' £100,000. There is, however, said to be 'an absence of information which financiers nsually look for in such eases—the -rrowth of population, rateable value, etc.—so that there is more than a po»sibilivr of the matter being hung up for two or three months until what is required in the way of statistics is obtained from the Dominion. It may be, however, that the loan will be taken up privately. The Glasgow City Assessor lus just uia-de known the serious position of pro-

perty within the. city. The unlet houses number 16,531, of an iggregate rental of £203,867, and 3509 unlet business premises, oi the annual rental ol £126,815. The'total Joss to landlords is £330,682, the heaviest ever made. The Jewish Colonial Trust, with its capital of a couple of millions sterling, of which more than a quarter of a million has been paid tip; is rent with dissension just. now. At a meeting this week Mr Zungwill, the famous autho., appeared as a dissentient shareholder objecting to the project for confining- the company's operations to Palestine, Syria, other parts of Asiatic Turkey, Sinai, and Cyprus. The project, however, was carried at the ■confirmatory meeting—the first meeting seems to have been held at Cologne—by 1448 against 118 votes. The proposals of tte South Australian Government for' financing the £3,094,600 4 per cent, bonds which mature on tho Ist January next have been issued. An issue of 3i per cent, inscribed stock is 1» made, into which holders of the existing bonds are invited to exchange, a' cash bonus of £2 7s 6d being given in addition, while holders also retain the January coupon. Only £2,000,000 new •'.ijk is to do issued, however, so that the outstanding debt will be reduced by over a million sterling. Cash subscriptions are also invite' for tho new issue at tho price ot lib'/ Us per ■•tin im> existing 34 per cent, stock, with which it will rank pari.passu, is quoted at 99, so that a small turn is shown, but this is reduced by the lact that the new stock will only bewin to tear interest on. Ist January next, which, calculating the dates on which instalments are payable, makes a difference of I- per cent. " The stock is, of course, a trustee investment.' The London General Omnibus Company has had a disastrous vear, and has carried 12,000,000 fewer passengers. At the meeting of shareholders this week the chairman said that the receipts from omnibus traffic amounted to £1,060,243. The total "number of miles run was 32,176,100 as against 32,620,489y a decrease of 444,-389 miles, owbg to the smaller number of vehicles running. The total nurnber of passengers, carried was id 5,854,090, or a decrease over the previous year of 12,685,028, also arising from tho fewer number of omnibuses running anrl competition. To his mind there were six separate causa? responsible for tho heavy losses. The first was the unseasonable weather. In the second place, there was no doubt that the increased; competition of the London County Council electric trams had caused them serious loss. In the third place 'the. tube railways had injured the company's business, but it was equally certain that those railways had done hut very little good for 'themselves. The fourth reason which he would offer was the'iiicreatcd cost of feeding their horses. Then, ayain, their motor 'buses had been a great expense, The last cause was the severe competition of their opponents, who were now their friends. For two years the Loudon General Omnibus Company had been fighting five different companies. All had joined forces, and competition had now ceased.