NATIONAL VALUATIONS.

Timaru Herald, Volume LVIII, Issue 1770, 3 June 1895, Page 3

NATIONAL VALUATIONS.

» , An American millionaire once boasted that he was able to buy the whole of the United Kingdom. Taking this as his te#t, and supposing for the sake of argument that the British Isles were for sale, a writer in an English paper has just made some calculations to show how much the millionaire would have to pay for them. It would amount to about £12,000,000,000. Such is the estimate of Dr Giffen, the great Board of Trade statistician, on the income tax returns. This stupendous amount is nearly fifteen times greater than the present national debt, and it is made up of the following amounts, the figures quoted representing millions sterling :— Land. £1691 ; houses, £1927 ; fanners' profits, £522 ; British and foreign railways, £1008 ; trades and professions, £541 ; various companies, £696 ; mines and quarries, £34 : gas and water works, £191 ; canals, £71 ; ironworks, £9 ; foreign loans and investments, £1027 ; furniture, works ofart,etc.,£96o ; public property, £500 ; sundries, £860. Average value per inhabitant, £270, or £1350 to

the family of five persons. Were Great Britain put up for auction and knocked down to the highest bidder, there is not enough money in the whole world to pay cash for the transaction. The amount of hard cash in existence only totals up to about £1,600,000,000— a mere trifle compared with other forms of wealth. This sum is composed of almost equal amounts of gold and silver coin. Even by adding the paper money in existence throughout the world to the hard cash, the total is still an insignificant amount of under £2,500,000,000. The principal form of wealth in all countries except Great Britain is land. In the United Kingdom, 78,000,000 acres, owned by 180,000 persons, constitutes one-sixth only of the national wealth. It has been further estimated that, in spite of depression in trade, foreign competition, and other causes, British national wealth is increasing at the rate of £200,000,000 per annum. An American census report recently issued shows that if the wealth of the United States could be realised and equally divided, there would be a sum of £200 for each inhabitant. The actual valuation of all real and personal property is £13,900,000,000 sterling. The total has multiplied nine-fold in 40 years. Consequently the enormous additions to population resulting from immigration have had no injurious effect upon the wealth of the country. Indeed, the increase in the wealth is at a faster rate than the addition to the population. Of the total wealth of the United States 60-8 per cent, is real estate. Next to real estate, railroads account for about 12 per cent, of the total, and this is fairly well distributed throughout the States. Machinery and mill equipments come after railways, with 4-6 per cent. This is confined largely to the Atlantic States, and to those bordering on the great Lakes. The value of agricultural stock, etc., is given as £540,000,000 sterling, or 4'l per cent. Mining is credited with £260,000,000 sterling, or about 2 per cent.