WEALTH OF AUSTRALIA

Otago Daily Times, Issue 19946, 13 November 1926, Page 14

WEALTH OF AUSTRALIA

PRODUCTION AND TRADE. SURVEY BY ECONOMIST. (Press Association—By Telegraph—Copyright.) MELBOURNE, November 12. Giving evidence in the 44-hour week case at the Arbitration Court, Mr F. C. Benham, lecturer on economics at Sydney University, said the national wealth of Australia, measured per head of the popuation in terms of commodities, was less than it was in 1901. It was less in 1921 than that of Canada, the country with which Australia could best be compared. The national income, measured per head of the population in terms of commodities, was less than it was before the war. The public external debt was £B3 per head, compared' with £ls in Canada. The interest payable on the external debt had increased at a greater rate than the national income in the past 15 years. The private wealth in America in 1922 was £6OO per head of population. In Canada in 1921 it was £519, and in Australia in 1923 it was £426. . 0 Mr Benham said that with an 88 per cent, increase in horsepower in Australia, it was surprising that there had been only an 8 per cent, increase in output. The net horsepower per wage earner in the United States from 1914 to 1923 had increased by 17 per cent. This was accompanied by an increase of 26 per cent, in the output. In reply to a question, the witness said that, economically, the country was in a better position than it was at the beginning of the century.