STUDY OF ECONOMICS

Southland Times, Issue 22998, 18 September 1936, Page 9

STUDY OF ECONOMICS

FINAL MEETING FOR YEAR. The final meeting of the winter session of the Society for the Study of Economics was held in the Tudor Lounge. In the absence of Mr R. J. Gilmour, the Rev. C. J. Tocker, occupied the chair. The closing lecture was on “The Trade Cycle,” and the lecturer, Mr R. G. Webb, M.A., dealt in a most illuminating way with the facts of the ever-recurring sequence of trade-boom and depression, and discussed the various theories advanced by different schools of economists to account for these strange phenomena, and whether, and by what means, they might be eliminated from the economic system. The society has had a most successful season, the average attendance at the course o feight lectures being in the vicinity of 40. Each evening there are breaks in the lecture during whichquestions are asked and answered, and, discussion, often animated, takes place on the subjects raised in the lecture. Great interest has been added to this year’s work by virtue of the fact that the course covered many of the economic principles underlying the legislation of the present Government. At the conclusion of the final lecture the chairman referred to the great amount of time and reading the lecturer, Mr Webb, had put into his work and to the very high appreciation of it, felt by all the members of the society. The lectures had been vital and of the utmost value and it would be impossible to speak too highly of the work Mr Webb had done. These remarks were endorsed and amplified by Messrs J. B. Reid, B. W. Hewat, Whelan, J. L. Cameron, S. McDonald and G. Hall.

Mr Tocker, on behalf of the society, handed to Mr Webb u cheque as a token of the appreciation the members of the society felt for the outstanding work he had done this year, and expressed the hope that.Mr Webb’s services might again be available when the society took up its winter course next year. Mr Webb, in replying, spoke of the pleasure he had had in the work, though it had indeed been arduous and concluded by referring to the necessity of taking pains to understand the workings of the economic system in the midst of which they all lived, finding out where it was defective and remoulding it nearer to the heart’s desire.

The thanks of the society were also conveyed to Mr G. Tobin, the secretary.