CURRENT TOPICS.

Taranaki Daily News, Volume LVI, Issue 297, 19 May 1914, Page 4

CURRENT TOPICS.

THE WORLD'S MONEY MARKET. 11l aii address .'jo- the Canadian Club at Ottawa, Sir George Parish said there was a notion prevalent in some quarters a few years ago that Loudon "wati ceasing to he the world's money market. On the contrary, during the past year, when Berlin, Paris, and New York kad less money to lend than usual, the London market was 'open to all camera and was able to satisfy them to the extent of two hundred and forty (millions sterling, of which five-sixths was lent to the dominions and foreign countries). The ability of England is, in fact, greater than ever before. Her investments in colonial and foreign countries now exceed three thousand live hundred millions sterling, and of this sum Canada has taken five -hundred millions. Tlie lendings have been principally for railway construction. Sir George Parish dwelt upon the growth of British wealth in various ways. The national income he put at present a.t two thousand four hundred millions sterling pel' annum and expressed the belief thiir'c in thirty years it will be more than double the amount.

SECRET COMMISSIONS.

An authoritative statement as to the results o£ the seven years' operation of Vhe English Bribery Act, which is allied largely at the system of secret commissions, 13 published in a recent issue of the London Standard. The secretary of -he Secret Commissions and Bribery Prevention League (Mr. I{. R. M. Leonard! declares that while the Act has roused many previously acquiescent persona to ft sense of the wrougneaa of tiid secret commission system tittd doubly Straigtlheaed its oppon-

outs, it yet hag serious defect*. Ifc fails for instance, to touch' the ease of \ifiu domestic servant class. Here the system ia Yery widely spread. The worst ■ offenders, Mr. Leonard aaya, are chefs, and in particular foreign chefs. "If a tradesman refuses to give the desired commission the chef sees to it that his wares come before the efmployer in such a oondition ftttiat the latter at once ceases to deal with him!. In the case of a fishmonger, the fish is kept until it is stale, trad, 'then seared, up." Gardeueis are frequent offenders. If a, seed merchant refuses them a ccwuwisaion his seoda are neglected and do not grow satisfactorily. In the case of a laundry, ftjhe washing is -brought up co-vefed with dirty s|imi<lges. In the case of the professional classes, the working of the Aot is claimed to be more effective. Mr. Leonard cites a recent ease in which a buyer for a foreign Government, placing an order in England, proposed a secret commission of £IOO for himself. The seller Teplied than as he was a member of the Secret Own mission League he could not give it. This effectually frightened the agent, who gave the order without troubling further about his commission. This anti-bribery movement is being extended to other countries, the Standard says. Germany already has a bribery law and a large league, Sweden will shortly have one and Franca is likely to follow suit. An international conference on the subject i» to be held in Paris next month. As they stand, howev-er, neither the French nor the German laws affect the bribery of domestic aervants, but are concerned only , with the commercial aspects oi the m&t- . ter.

A GREAT DISPARITY. it) is impossible to overlook the great disparity between the salaries paid to .military officers Mid the salaries paid to school teachers, and the question ii bound to be asked again Whether the training of the Cadets and Territorials demands higher attainments or more laborious or more prolonged study than does the training of the children in the schools. This is only one aspect of the problem. We have Cadets undergoing training alt Duntroon who -vrill shortly become lieutenants, at a Salary of jKS# per annum rising to £3OO after four years' service—wa#es that are attained bv tho most highly qualified of the school teachers only after many years of service. The Minister of Defence last year estimated that the total expenditure would -ultimately settle down in the neighborhood of £450,000 a year, but as far as we can see the™ is small prospect of the vote ever falling below half a million, and unless rigid economjy is exercised it will greatly exceed that sum.— Lytteltoa Times.