AVERAGE INCOME OF THE PEOPLE OF NEW ZEALAND.

Tuapeka Times, Volume VI, Issue 298, 16 October 1873, Page 5

AVERAGE INCOME OF THE PEOPLE OF NEW ZEALAND.

In the course of an interesting article on the debate in the House as to the indebtedness of the Colony, &c, the Lyttelton Times has the following : — The Premier has ha i occasion to calculate what the average income of the people of New Zealand is, and. he confesses that he had seme difficulty in determining how to arrive at a fair conclusion. On the whole, however, he decided that " The report of the Civil Service Com-missiooers-in the Appendix to the Journals, 1866, was a document upon which a considerable amonnt of reliance might be pi aped. Taking that report as correct, the estimated total income of the people amounted to L7B per year per head of population, at the time the report was compiled. Allowing for the fact, on the one hand, that the profits of the people have increased since that time, and on the other hand for the fact that the proportion of bread-winners to the total population has become smaller, I do not think that the Commissioners' estimate of the average income per head of the population is excessive." Adopting the estimates given by the Commissioners, which seems to us moderate, Mr Yogel constructs the following interesting wad important table ;—; — Per ceat. of the average earnings per head. The annual charge per head for interest on the Colonial indebtedness, exclusive of Public Works and Provincial, represents I*2 The annual charge for interest oq the Colonial indebtedness;;, including Public Works, and excluding Provincial, represents 1-6 The annual charge for interest on the Colonial indebtednesss, including Public Works and Provincial, represents - 24 In a second table he gives the percentage of debt on the earnings of the people of other countries, taking his figures from Mr Dudley Baxter's work :—: —

Comparing these figures with those relating to isew Zealand, Mr Yogel contends that the annual interest on our debt is not a very large charge on the annual earnings of the people. Such a conclusion, he urges, is strongly for.tified, when we remember that, in relief of the burden, we have the railways, and other public works constructed out of the public works loan, and the works constructed out of. the total of the Provincial loans, including several large railways, oommenoud before the initiation of the public works policy; and, when, we remember also that the whole of the land revenue, and the value of the public estate, are not taken into account. Contrasting our strictly unproductive debt with the strictly unproductive debt of the United Kingdom, Mr Yogel finds that the percen-. tageiu earnings per head of population is 1 m -2 against 2 8 To make, a feir comparison between our debt and tljte national debt of the United Jfingdoni, he contends, that we should acid to the charge for the latter the annual interest on, the cost of railways, which would a.raaunt» at feurper cent., to L22,0Q0,00Q yearly, "to say nothing of the interest on othor works of public utility, constructed out of local loans." Altogether, the Treasurer's speech is full and exhaustive, and it must be admitted that he has made out on the whole — assuming the aacuracy of his figures— a remarkably go^d case for New Zealand in comparisQu with o£her countries,.

Countries, Unjted Kingdom United States (including State debts) • Russia (including railway guarantee) - lYance (including railway guarantee) ... Austria Prussia and German StatesGerman Empire - IS] 5 189T 1863 to to to 1820. 1&49. 1870. 9 5-5 28 - - 2-7 — — -2-5 35 23 23 1-8 2-2 2-2 1-3 -6 - 2