Manawatu Herald THURSDAY, APRIL 7. 1921. INCOMES IN BRITAIN.

Manawatu Herald, Volume XLIII, Issue 2260, 7 April 1921, Page 2

Manawatu Herald THURSDAY, APRIL 7. 1921. INCOMES IN BRITAIN.

THE socialistic idea of mlislributino- wealth was reviewed in a lecture leccntly by Sii* Josiah Stamp. He presented statistical evidence showing that since 1801 there had been a uni form increase in wealth in till classes, leaving the “slope" of distribution unchanged. The average poison in PUT had twice the money income of the corresponding person m 1801. and each £1 had twice the purchasing power, so that practically all classes were four v.mes as well off in real comforts and commodities, and the standard of living was now four times as good as it was 120 years ago. The general conception of a “living wage" was. to a very considerable extent, not absolute at all. but relative to the particular age in which we live. Dealing with tbe question as to what the result would be if in 191920 all the incomes of the better-off people were,pooled among the poorer,.! Sir Josiah said that if till the people with more than £250 a year had the surplus above that amount pul into a common pool, there would he available, after providing for the upkeep of the public services through the taxation at present paid by that class, and also for the capital extensions (for which that class provided out of savings) on a scale approaching the pre-war proportions, a net sum which, divided among the population would increase the income of each family by about £l4 a year, or. say, 5s a week its jr maximum. This would apply to the first year of pooling only as in the succeeding years it would be much smaller, probably not more than £5 or £0 per family per annum, The distribution of capital wealth showed that some 400,000 people held two-thirds of the whole wealth, and it section of these, numbering 30,000, held one-third of the total wealth. Jle added that of the total values created in industry, probably some 30 to 35 per cent, went to employers, lenders of capital, and other people who were not paid wage, and salary earners engaged in production. There was not enough, all told, in Hie whole pre-war quantity of production evenly divided to provide a substantially higher standard of life than was then enjoyed, and not by an altered distribution of it, but only by increasing its total volume could any important general improvement be attained.