WEALTH OF NEW ZEALAND.

Otago Witness, Issue 2817, 4 March 1908, Page 70

WEALTH OF NEW ZEALAND.

A LARGE SURPLUS OVER LIABILI- . TIES. A return has recently been issued from the office of the Registrar-general giving ar> approximate estimate of the wealth of the Dominion as on December 31, 1906. The method of computation adopted in regard to private wealth is the same as that used in Australia, the basis of calculation being the amount of property and money left by deceased persons during a given period It is taken for granted that the wealth of the living is approximately equal to that of the dead. The return sets forth that on December 31, 1906, the adult population of the Dominion numbered 514,975, and the aggregate of private wealth was 304,654,000, an average of £335 5s per head of adult population. This shows a very large advance during the past 10 years, the estimated private wealth in 1896 being £170,008,000, and in 1891, £145,781,000. The value of Crown lands in 1906 was £18,918,00, lands owned by local authorities £5,851,000, educational lands £4,646,000, church and other lands, £3.392,000; total of land values £32,807,000. The value of Government railways on March 31. 1906, was estimated at £24,092,000 ; other public works, such as telegraph and telephone lines, lighthouses, harbours, and water supplies to goldfields, £5,142,000; the total value of public property being £62,041.000, making the total of private and public wealth £366,695,000- If to this ie added tho value of native lands and improvements, exclusive of lessees' interests, estimated at £9,708.000. a final total of £376,403,000 is arrived at. Deducting from this the amount of publio debt contracted by the general Government, £53,497,000, and the amount of local bodies' loans, £5,468,000, the Dominion conies out on the credit side of the ledger -nidi the handsome surplus of £317,438.000.

In the seventeenth c&ntury absence from church on Sunday in EnglaoyJ was punishable by a na^u.