TOPICS OF THE DAY.

Waikato Times, Volume 117, Issue 19586, 27 May 1935, Page 8

TOPICS OF THE DAY.

The Menace of Insects Thoughtful people aro sometimes concerned as to the menace of insects, and some are convinced that they are a greater danger to humanity nnc| civilisation than war, pestilence and famine. Take that much-discussed pest, the white butterfly. Four years ago it was practically unknown in this Dominion; now it is everywhere at all seasons. Its rapid growth is remarkable; it is active and carries out the injunction to bo fruitful and multiply to an amazing degree. The rate of propagation of the common housefly is another almost unbelievable fact; it is computed that the descendents of one of these insects if left unmolested would'total (5,000,000,000,000 in four months, whilst it is asserted that the infinitesimal aphis, which cannot be weighed on the world’s most delicate scales, could produce in a year 820,000 tons of specimens. These tilings seem incredible, and fortunately arc not likely to be optically demonstrated, but they certainly show that the scientists’ advice to wage war —relentless war —on insects is sound, for if given a chance they could overwhelm humanity. Lower Interest Rates Necessary. ■ Addressing the National Mutual Life Assurance Society, Mr Keynes said that cm the one hand (lie evidence indicates that the maintenance of national prosperity and the improvement of employment require a lower rate of interest than we have yet enjoyed. It had been disappointing to notice how comparatively few large-scale opportunities for the investment of new savings have yet disclosed themselves under the influence of the low rate of interest. In his opinion, wc need for our economic health even lower rates than those ruling in the Golden Age before the World War. But he admitted that there arc serious obstacles in the way of an immediate rurther reduction; so long as interest rates abroad remain disproportionately high, our own position must remain slightly precarious. Far more important, in Mr Keynes’ view, was the altitude of British institutional investors toward (he future of interest rates. The current long-term rate of interest is a highly psychological phenomenon which must necessarily depend on what expectations we hold concerning the future rate. Outside the field of government bonds, there arc other rates of interest —for instance, mortgage interest, the terms on which building soeioties lend and borrow, and the rates charged by I lie banks —which have lagged far behind. For the encouragement of enterprise, according to Mr Keynes, a fall in these rales is more important than a furl ter decline in the yield on Government securities.