BY THE WAY

Evening Star, Issue 19664, 17 September 1927, Page 2

BY THE WAY

[By Q.V.]

“ Ths time has come,” the Walrus said, “ To talk of many things.” The remarkable sequence of disasters which have befallen airmen lately proves that wc have not got so far in our conquest of the tricky air as most of us believed. It is a pity that each advance in transport should take such a toll of lives, but fresh adventurers are ever ready—•“ each stepping where his conmido stood tho moment that.he foil.” How indomitable is tho human heart! Men will go anywhere, risk anything, suffer anything, for any motive, from tho highest to the lowest. | Explorers have penetrated what used to be darkest Africa, and commercial travellers have motored over the roads of tho Bruce County Council merely for financial gain. There is hardly a peak of note in the world which has not been scaled by someone anxious to show that it could be done. Captain Slocum sailed and drifted round tho world—mainly for the fun of tho thing—in a craft apparently unfit to make tho passage from hero to Port Chalmers. Earth and sea have few mysteries or terrors left, but the air, invisible and capricious, is as yet untamed. One side of our. nature looks on the Atlantic aviator as a mere foolhardy ass; the other side thinks that it would like to have a shot at the journey itself, and would take steps to that end if it were not spring time, when the garden needs so much attention. Wo are sorry for the missing men; the forlorn hope of an army which will one day be victorious. * * * * It is understood that Mr' Downie Stewart is deeply versed in political economy. He has not, however, studied the art of popularity, or perhaps is indifferent to its charms. The effect of his finance seems to be the remitting of a certain amount in Customs duties and the collection of a similar sum through income tax. Had Mr Stewart been wise in his generation he would have reversed the process. Income taxis a definite amount, set down in indifferent handwriting, and posted to the sufferer with a strong hint that an early settlement will , oblige. There is no . ambiguity about a demand for income tax. Customs revenue, on the other hand, is collected from tho importer, who adds the duty to the cost of the goods, puts a trifle more on for luck, and sells to a retailer. Tho latter calculates his profit on the buying price, and charges accordingly. In most cases the consumer has no idea why he is paying more than ho used to. It may he that the original manufacturer is in need of a new motor car, or that freight and insurance charges have gone up, or simply that someone is trying to take him down. In ninety-nine cases out of a hundred ho does not know whether there is a duty on the article or not. In the general murkiness Mv Downio Stewart is lost sight of. Had ho reflected on these things, Mr Stewart might not only have saved himself some disapprobation, but even been praised as an cncourager of homo industries. As to the tariff itself, wc leave it to tho experts to wrangle over. We shall only say that wc were pleased to find canary seed and bunting on the free list. These items are' so extensively used in working men’s homes that tho absence of a duty on them will make quite a difference in tho weekly budget. * * * * 'This week the vice-president of the Dunedin Savings Bank deplored the extension of the time payment system, describing it as tending towards extravagance and merely a mortgage on future earnings a judgment which, by the way-, might apply to marriage. Wc are, however, with him in both statements, the second being self-evi-dent The hire purchase system is used mainly by. the poorer p asses. It is a kind of gamble in -vhich they stake their health, strength, ability, and luck against something they want. Tfie seller is the obliging took maker who takes the bet, and sees as far as possible that the odds are in his f.r or. It is said to be a very proli able line cf business, 'O apparently his calcinations are correct. So far, there is not verv much damage done. The buyer gets his goods at once, and the seller gels his money, with interest, in tho inline. The evil lies in tho temptation to extravagance. When one can get something by merely signing an order, one signs orders not infreqj eitly But doe-, not much tho same thing happen in more exalted circles? When a company borrows money on debentures, does it not hope that its future earnings will suffice to pay the interest on them? When a harbor hoard floats a loan in order to buy a dredge, is it not giving a mortgage over its future earnings? When the Government raises money in London, it mortgages tho present earnings of everyone in the community, and very likely those of the next generation. Purchasers on the time payment system may be foolish; very likely they arc. At any rate, they seem incapable of appreciations tho difference between mere retail transactions and high finance. ak ♦ sjt * “Mr Nelson and his associates on the. Citizens’ Committee and in the Man have intimated,” etc., cfc.— Kcport of Samoan affairs.

AVore you ever in the Islands AVhcre tho sky is mostly fair? They were anything but dry lands, In the good old days that were, AATien the rum was of the strongest, And no writ could ever run, And the person lived the _ longest AVlio was handy with his gun. Have you smelt tho copra drying In the hot, bright tropic sun? Have yon heard tho land breeze sighing AVhen the darkness had begun? Have you watched tho grey sharks basking, Dreaming dreams of bnllamakau, Then, if you don’t mind us asking, What the dickens is a Man? Oh, you Islands of Illusion, AVe suspect, if truth were known, Your romance is a delusion, And your drawbacks all your own. If wo ever longed to sec you, Tl 10 desire has loft ns now. But perhaps some wandering seamew Will explain what is a Alan. * ♦ * * Much Dunedin newspaper space lias been devoted of late to controversies which seem to bo connected with economics. The respective creeds of the warriors concerned arc somewhat obscure, though each maintains that his is tho only true doctrine with the name blown in the bottle. These excursions into print do not do any harm; probably they even do good. It is better lor a man to proclaim his wrongs—or what he imagines are his wrongs—from the house tops than to brood over them in secret. The Scots lady who advised the minister to come away from her husband and let him swear a bit when the latter had hit his thumb with the hammer know a great deal of practical psychology, although she had never heard of that now fashionable science. It is your brooder, who is liable to erupt in a dangerous fashion at any moment. It is quite certain, however, that we shall not have a revolution of tho Russian typo for many a long year, if we ever have one. Why? asks someone, anxious to shatter things to bits, hnet then remould them - nearer to the heart’s desire—why? Because it is said that one person i« every four m these parts lias a banking 1 account.

monts. Many a man would be tempted to try to turn things upside down but for the fact that ,his own little idle might be buried under the ruins. So long as the savings bank deposits keep coming in wo arc safe. Those who might otherwise desire the fall of the capitalist are- restrained by the thought that if the capitalist falls ho