The Guardian And Evening Star, with which is incorporated the West Coast Times. TUESDAY, OCTOBER 21st, 1924. THE USE OF CAPITAL.

Hokitika Guardian, 21 October 1924, Page 2

The Guardian And Evening Star, with which is incorporated the West Coast Times. TUESDAY, OCTOBER 21st, 1924. THE USE OF CAPITAL.

Ik discussing recently tho relations 1 between capital and labour in Great Rrtiain, the ‘“Round Table” took the

reasonahle veiw that a wider distrihution of eapital ownership and a more intelligent use of capital resources would go far, not only to redress the present extremes of wealth and poverty, lint to provide a solution for many industrial problems of the day. 'the “Round Table" went on to point out that the conditions it postulated—conditions in which savings by the wage-earning workers would give them a steadily increasing share in the ownership of industrial eapital were not by any means an impracticable ideal. Capital (it remarked) is far more widely distributed than is generally recognised. Between the millionaires on the one side and the slum dwelleis on the other, there is a vast army of people possessed of a few hundreds or thousands of pounds invested in securities or shares of one kind or another. In many businesses the number of shareholders is as great as, or greater than, the number cif workers. The task of assuring a more general distrihution of capital throughout the ci mmunity i-, nothing like so formidable ail undertaking as is sometimes believed. These practical suggestions c.re eeitaiuly not les.s deserving of attention in this conntry than in Great Britain. New Zealanders, on an average, are very much better plnicd than their kinsfolk in Hie Alutlici Country to acciimulatii bv saving a certain amount of capital. Thanks in part to the credit facilities provided by the Slate and other agencies, the number of people in this country who own, or are acquiring, their own homes, i-- mounting steadily. The o'vnr.rshin of business and industrial capital also is tending to become more widely distributed, but much more rapid progress might easily he made along this promising line of development. Jll his address lately as president, of the New Zealand Employers’ Federation, Air T. Shailer Weston dealt interestingly with the subject of national savings. Belying in part on figures supplied, by the Government Statistician, Mr Weston suggested that 10 to 12 millions sterling would ho a minimum amount of national savings in New Zealand from now on in a normal year. “A successful campaign tio ensure an additional annual saving of £2,000,000,’’ he added, ‘•would mean extra self-de-iiiial to the extent of C 5 per head by tlm 100,000 workers in New Zealand. Many of these might save more if some could save little or nothing.” A not inconsiderable part of the amount that Is now hong added annually to the capital of the Dominion is saved by its wage-earners. If they saved the additional amount that Air Weston indicated, it is clear that they would soon lie owners of a. very substantial proportion of the eapital invested in the Dominion, and that this proportion would increase steadily from year to year. Development along these lines would not only provide a solution of industrial and other economic problems, hut would bring about something in the nature of an economic transformation. It is only necessary to observe the round of popular amusements, together with such outstanding items as the national expenditure on drink and on lie!ting, to perceive that the people of the Dominion tire not exercising by any means their lull power of saving. At the same time it is clear that by an additional annual saving, which is quite practicable, the ownership of eapital might lie so widened that any question of conflict, or even of conflicting interest, between the parlies engaged in industry, or between these parties and the body of consumers would tend progressively to disappear.