VIRTUE AND VICE.

Taranaki Central Press, Volume IV, Issue 338, 20 January 1937, Page 7

VIRTUE AND VICE.

THRIFT AND HOARDING. SAVING BY BIUTAIN'S MASSES. “The old maxims uf thrift arc often austere and sometime# forbidding,'’ bays The Times, London. But when they have a forb.dd.ng look tney belie the true virtue of thrill. There is no purpose in thrift worth pursuing unless 11 be to thrive. Hoarding, which is saving without an object, is not a virtue, but an economic v.ce. Thrift should have an object that w.ll make the very striving lor it, as well as the realisation, a satisfaction; and the necessary seif-disc.plme will then nave no more the sharpness of selidenial than the athlete s training tor the race. Thrift is one of the characteristics of wise spending, it requires an apportionment of expenditure, a planned individual economy. “Household budgets tend to be haphazard and casual. Perhaps the habit of hand-to-mouth living has never been more general than it is now In some sections of the community, and particularly among those who live in very small houses or llais, and whose storehouse is the local retailer's shop. But it is also true that the habit of thrift has never been mode widespread in this country, i lie savings of the masses of the people were never before so consistent or -u large as they are to-day. “Thrift is an element in the formation of the character of a people as well as of an individual. There is undoubtedly a thrift that takes away from life the richness which wise spending would impart. That is not however, a common tailing, and it is not at all a trait of the English nation Rather is it desirable to inculcate the practice of saving in order that the resources which savings represent ma) be an endowment of strength, independence and happiness. 'the compulsory savings schCxnes of unemployment, health and old-age insurance are themselves a foundation of sue.a. security and national siatfclity. The) represent a minimum standard, and except for the low wage-earners am the casually employed —though not al. of this second class —they do not exhaust the possibilities Oi thritt. Individual savings lor individuahy desirable purposes enhance the nal.iona well-being, while they promote pe ■ sonal comfort and confidence. Tri:- “ has become, it appears, a great international movement, and the thirteen! annual Thrift Day is being celebrate m over 30 countries. Thrift is essentially an art of peace and ”ie creates spendthrift is war. It follows thai the nations which would thrive stioulc follow the paths of peace.”