THE Wairarapa Age MORNING DAILY. TUESDAY, JANUARY 5, 1926. NEW ZEALAND’S PRIVATE WEALTH.

Wairarapa Age, 5 January 1926, Page 4

THE Wairarapa Age MORNING DAILY. TUESDAY, JANUARY 5, 1926. NEW ZEALAND’S PRIVATE WEALTH.

New Zealand is happy in the possession of a population of workers. There are few who exist merely to spend wealth, and among the busiest of our citizens arc our wealthiest. When the productivity per head of the Dominion is compared with that of the most progressive countries of the world, New Zealand comes out in a proud position, and when the measure is applied to the private wealth of the country, further corroboration, is found for the enterprise as weft as the success of our people. An official estimate of the private wealth of the Dominion is made possible by taking, over a series of years, the disclosures which have to be made when estates are passed for death duty. It has been found that the wealth which, comes under review in this way provides a fairly good gauge to the possessions of the people as a whole, and this survey has just been made by the Government Statistician. It shows that the private wealth of the Dominion has reached the remarkably high figure of £794,289,000, and that the increase in a decade amounts to mi less a sum. thhn £500,000,000. Since 1914, land- values have considerably increased, and there has been a general inflation whUh must have had an appreciable effect on the values which come under review for the purpose of making this class of estimate. However, allowing fully for these factors, it is strikingly obvious that in ten years the country has progressed materially to a remarkable degree. How does this huge accumulation affect the individual? When we look around us, we find a high standard of comfort, and we fail to see the miserable extremes of wealth and poverty so obvious in older lands. Though we 'have rich and poor, we have few violent contrasts. The sum total of our wealth, distributed among all the individuals comprising oUr population, would provide each with £576, but as wealth is held principally by those over twenty years of age, the inclusion of adults alone would make a per capita assessment of £952. When it is remembered that quite half the population are depositors in the Post Office Savings Bank, it will be rca--1 lised that most New Zealanders have a nest-egg, and that the younger ones who have not commenced to accumulate have wonderfully good opportunities in a country always ready to reward the man who is willing to work.