LATE CORRESPONDENCE.

Star (Christchurch), Volume LXVI, Issue 20233, 17 February 1934, Page 31 (Supplement)

LATE CORRESPONDENCE.

RAILWAY PICNIC. Dear Sir, —“ One Who Knows ” is to be congratulated on his stand. It is almost inconceivable that outsiders should have the nerve to want to go for a picnic in company with the railways staff. After all, the railways belong to the Government, and it is hardly fair that ordinary people should have privileges accorded to Government servants. Of course, railwaymen get only £3 4s a week (I know one chap that gets more), with a pension thrown in for being good. It is rather a good and generous idea that railway officers doing picnic work should not ask for any pay;—so different from other ordinary picnics, where big salaries are attached. Now that we are warned not to butt in, the consequences are on our own heads.—l am, etc., TUQUOQUE. THE DOUGLAS PLAN. Dear Sir, —Commenting on your editorial in regard to the Douglas A plus B theorem, one must, I suppose, be charitable and conclude that the Australian Advisory Economic Council decided their verdict in advance and did not really give much serious thought to the matter. To say that rents constitute part of the national purchasing power shows that very little thought was given— rents are simply redistribution of purchasing power, whose source is wages, salaries and dividends. One could just as logically claim that unemployment wages raised from taxation are part of the national income. The A plus B theorem involves the tracing of money, through the economic system, from the creation of money, by the banking system, back to the banks for cancellation, and also the re-investment of purchasing power in production, thus setting up two costs. Interest is probably the worst factor in the present system. It should be clear that if the banks are the sole creators of money, it is a physical impossibility to pay more back than they lend. As an illustration, regard the national debt. We merely repay one loan by raising a larger one. The Macmillan Commission, as you say, comprised orthodox economists and bankers, and one might just as well expect twelve brewers to give a verdict for prohibition. It is difficult from this distance to know what the policy of the British Labour Party is—if any; or are they merely trying to hold their jobs? To ask a man of Major Douglas’s calibre to explain these childish points is like asking a noted astronomer to explain that the world is round to some people who still think it is flat. The statement that the Douglas remedy is . issue paper money and keep on issuing ” is entirely misleading. Douglas proposes to create and issue money in the same way as is done at present, °nly it is free of interest, and is a scientific equation between costs and prices. For the first time in human history there is a proper national system of accountancy, instead of the hit-or-miss policy adopted at present.—l am etc. F. HARRISON. Bryndwr, February 15, 1934. AN OLD HALF CROWN. Dear Sir, —In regard to the letter in Friday’s “ Star ” concerning old halfcrowns, Mr Stephens says that he has one dated 1818. I can go two years better. I have a George 111. halfcrown, dated 1816, in good condition. The date is quite clear. If Mr Stephens would care to have my address, he can have it by applying through vour columns.—l am, etc., OLD COIN. YACHTSMEN GRATEFUL. ,Dear Sir,—l have been instructed by the New Zealand Yachting Council to express their appreciation for the publicity given to the recent Sanders Cup contest held at Lyttelton Harbour. It has been freely expressed by yachtsmen that the increased enthusiams and interest taken by the public in and around Christchurch, during the last season or two, has been largely due to the assistance given by the newspapers, and the amount of space given to this healthy sport in your paper is greatly appreciated.—l am etc. TT J. T. HOBBS. Hon. Secretary, New Zealand Yachting Council.