DOMINION ITEMS.

Hokitika Guardian, 31 December 1925, Page 4

DOMINION ITEMS.

LIST TJJLEttlUi'il —riiJl i'ULSS ASSOCIATION.]

DO-MINION'S WEALTH. WELLHNHI OX, Dee. 29. Alter the orgy of Christmas slu'Pjiingj the average New Zealand parent i-, probably wondering a hat lie is .still v. ortlt. The Government, Statistician v, ho deals only in averages, and not ■ ecusional dumeslie- events, has Leon investigating the general wealth oi the immunity, and has come to the con-

tpision that its anionuts to £o7C per capita of the whole population. Hut ; i s wealth is usually held and controll- , d by adults, an assessment of the . apital in the possession of New Zealander.-. over the age ol twenty years t,rings the total per individual out at the exiclient figure of £9-32. The method of ascertaining the amount ol private wealth nehl in the i nintry is to taKc the estates certified .or stamp duty over such a period as will dispose of unusual flucfuation.s due ext eptioiially large estates becoming - abject to death duty. The totals over

: series ol years are averaged, and it has been found that the system works i,at with lair accuracy. On this basis it is found Unit the total private ..(•aith of the Dominion amounts to .--.■or £7!>i.fJ<)o.<>!K>. Compared with the -.-iimate made in 1911. the private •wealth of the country has increased by lhe lemarkable Lota! of t0C0,000,000. and it is officially suggested that in ac-

,'Hinting lor thi- enormous increase. ihe part- p'laved by currency inflation should not he overlooked, ft is wellknown that the value of property, particularly land, ha" imereti-sed very largely during the decade, hut ihe Statistician add; that the figures reUr. I largely the pre-perity of New Zealand during the period under review. SLOW .MAILS TO LIN'D LAND. ('LI I! ISTC'H null. Decern her 00. Dr Thacker has replied to Mr .Walkman (Secretary of the Postal Department) repeating his declaration that the mails to England are needlessly slow, lie expresses astonishment ihat a responsible public servant should mul;c such a mistake as to declare that the air avail crossed the I’niied ■ fates in .'Li hours. The actual time. Dr Thacker declares, is -IS hours. The I ruiix-l’acilic mail steamers might, lie says. L.e s'loeilcd up to make the journey Is Lours faster. They would entiii.vt with the air mail and the fast Atlantic steamers which are available now, giving a twenty-two days’ service to London for those remix to pay the express charge for urgent letters. Dr Thacker repeats hi-- former statement that the actual time taken hy the mails in transit is mneli more than ihe ofm-ial figures show, and lie instances letters posted liv himself in London on December St h to catch tile Vancouver mail which took -12 dnva to roach Christchurch.

A GHASTLY TRAGEDY. A ( Civ LAND, December TO. A ghastly discovery of a man with his head partly blown oil' hy a gunshot was made in ike Domain this morning. The body was removed to the morgue and later was idcntflicd as that of Hubert Alexander Dovainl. aged to. who kept a general store in the Great North lioail. Alorningsidc. Ituvaml left home at about S o’clock ibis morning. When found in the Domain the back of his bead was blown off and a double-barrelled gun was found alongside the body. RANK iH'PTCT E>. PALM ERSTON NORTH. Dec. :!(). In this district in PL'A ibere were .'!'> bankruptcies ol which three were on the creditors’ applications, compared with t hirt v bankruptcies List year. .'! ; in 192:!. and -IA in 1922. The occupations of the bankrupts were most diverse.