The Guardian AND EVENING STAR, With which is incorporated “ The West Coast Times.” TUESDAY, JUNE 14th, 1921. ECONOMIC GEOGRAPIHY.

Hokitika Guardian, 14 June 1921, Page 2

The Guardian AND EVENING STAR, With which is incorporated “ The West Coast Times.” TUESDAY, JUNE 14th, 1921. ECONOMIC GEOGRAPIHY.

An Australian reviewer notes that n recent publication ‘The Gateways ol Commerce,” is an interesting essay in economic geography by Mr J. Fairgrieve and Mr E. Young. Everyone remembers the little primers of our childhood, which told us ol such things as the adventures of a fleece from the time it grew upon the sheep until it became the suit we wore. This book does much the same, but on a very much more elaborate scale. Its aim is to bring borne to us the completeness of the interdependence of commerce and industry the world over. The American 'bivil war produced the most serious industrial depression that England had over known, but the law extends to small concerns as well as to great. A coffee planter in Ceylon is careless a Nigerian chief listens to the bad advice of his medicine men, and thousands ol suburban households suffer. Again, why do Yorkshire and Lancashire remain the great centres of the woollen and cotton industries, though the raw material had to !>e brought from distant countries? How' comes it about that although Britain has such an ample rainfall, the question of water supply places a definite limit, which is being approached, on the number of inhabitants? The explanation of these and kindred phenomena is to be found in Mr Fairgrievo’s and Mr Young’s lucid pages. They also show that, great and bountiful as is the earth we dwell

upon, its resources are not lmmeasureable. Who, a generation ago, would ever have imagined that a day would ever come when America would cease to he self-supporting? Hut the margin between production and consumption has rapidly narrowed until the vanishing point fts in sight. There is in the world only a limited area of land which will grow wheat. Man can make it more fertile by scientific treatment; he can, like Farrar, evolve a grain that will thrive with a minimum of moisture. But in th e last resort climate is the decisive factor; it sets a term to man’s enterprise, and when all the suitable land is planted the white race will have to modify its dietetic habits. In the past coal has been the chief element in industrial supremacy; oil is now takin.f its place. Hut supplies are limited. Every ounce used is something gone from the world’s capital, which must sooner or later Ire exhausted. In water, however, we have a perennial and inexhaustible source of energy. Water will continue to flow and remain cheap as long as life itself, apd in the

age of water power the mountainous areas in the ever-raining equatorial regions will count for much more than they do now Indeed, there are many considerations which suggest that the ascendancy of the temperate dimes is hut transitory, and that the failure lies with tlm tropics.

In the local State every citizen would be a capitalist, says the London “Daily Telegraph.” That may seem a hard saying to the wild men of the Labour Party who are preaching a war upon capital. But what is capital? It consists of the money which thrifty persons save from week to week, whether in the form of bank balances, national tionnl savings certificates, or other investments, which is forthwith employed either directly or indirectly, in producing more wealth, of which the weekly wage-earner takes all but a small proportion. The “greedy capitalist” of the Labour agitator, represents in fact, the cream of our population. He provides the sinews of industrial development, and thus enlarges the labour market. The vast majority of British capitalists are men and women of small means. As an illustration, we may take the case of the railways. It might be imagined from statements which are frequently made that they belonged to a little group of plutocrats to Ik> numbered on the fingers of both hands. What is the fact? No fewer than 827,391 persons, according to the ■Railway Gazette, hold the ordinary or preference stocks of forty-eight of the principal railway companies of the United Kingdom and of these 58.1 per cent, have holding of £SOO or less. The debenture stock belongs to another group of 219,886 perscflis, 151 per cent, of whom have to their credit £.500 or less. It is much the same with all other industries; they have been created and are now maintained out of the savings, not of the few, but of the multitude. As a result of the movement which was inaugurated when national war savings certificates were placed on sale, there has been an enormous increase in the number of capitalists, which promises well for the future of this country.

Tjik recent closing of the Kanier bridge was of very great inconvenience not only to the two communities, more directly concerned on both sides of the river, but also to the public at large. It is very satisfactory to find now that from to-morrow, during certain hours of the day, the bridge is to be open for public traffic. Certain restrictions are being imposed as to the limitation of loads and the rate of speed for vehicles which is not to exceed a walking pace. It will be for users to observe these (restrictions carefully, otherwise they will lose the privilege of using the bridge for an extendedl term owing to the delay in undertaking the required repairs. These repairs are understood to be extensive and will cost in the region of £2,000. It is to be regretted that the bridge is in jeopardy, but if closed again it will fie only through the indiscretion of the users abusing the privileges they are now to enjoy. This bridge is a very important link in the line of vehicle traffic nomli r.nd south, and its loss will have a very hampering effect. The Government should be urged to proceed with th? permanent repairs as quickly as possible Doubtless the present financial stringency hns a good deal to do with the delay, but the work is of such great importance that, the Minister in charge might well stretch n point. In emergency, money is being found to relieve unemployment so that it is logical to expect money could be found also for a work of such wide importance as the repairs to an arterial bridge. In any case the Department has a permanent st.iT, which has to be paid in any case on the main roads, and in a matter of uigencv such as that under review, it should be possible to concentrate the staff on so important a work, for nothing should stand in the way of the bridge repairs.