THE OTTAWA CONFERENCE.

Waipa Post, Volume 44, Issue 3190, 14 June 1932, Page 6

THE OTTAWA CONFERENCE.

Sir,—lt appears that at the Ottawa Conference the discussions will runon the better distribution of the wealth of the Empire. One part of that wealth that seems so far to be escaping, notice is the savings of workmen. In recent years the amount laid by by those working for wages has been enormous. Considering the smallness of New Zealand's population, the Post Office Savings Bank has a very tidy number of millions of this saved-up capital. The recent trouble in New South Wales showed the same sort of saving there. The same will apply all over Australia. During the year a report from Great Britain stated that over £1,000,000,000 of savings certificates had been purchased by workmen. That amount may be doubled now. From Vancouver to Newfoundland the same may be looked for with so many varied industries under way in Canada. And we may take it that from Kenya to the Cape of Good Hope savings will be accumulating and workers' wealth increasing. Put the lot together, and you have a marvellous sum far beyond the wildest dreams ofl, say, pre-war years. So far there has been no organisation ot all that wealth. Is it to be without delegation at the conference, I suppose universal education has helped to bring it about, and if it can be organised along the Rotarian principle of " service before self " it may have a good deal to do with Empire economics during the next few years. This matter should certainly come up for review at the Conference.—l am, etC "' A.E.