THE DISTRIBUTION OF WEALTH.

Wairarapa Daily Times, Volume XVI, Issue 5198, 4 December 1895, Page 2

THE DISTRIBUTION OF WEALTH.

The' Political Science Quarterly,' an American economic review, is responsible for the following information about the distribution of wealth in tlio Republic: The total wealth of the country is estimated at 06,000,000,000 dollars, of which 71 per cent is owned by 9 per cont of the people. The 91 per cent of the people who, between them, own only 29 per cent of tho national wealth, are composed of the following groupsl,4oo,ooo tenant farmers, averaging 150 dollars per family—total 216,000,000 dollars; 752,700 farmers, owning inclusive of farm values, an average of 5,000 dollars per family, one-half, of which is mortgaged; net possession per family, 2,000 dollars—total, 1,300,000,000 dollars ; 1,756,400 farmers, averaging per family, 8,000 dollars, free of debt total, 5,309,000,000 dollars ; 5,159,796 urban families, tenting houses, averaging 500 dollars each total, 2,§80,000,000 dolors; 720,618 urbi}n faiiiilieSj owning their homes, subject to mortgages, avoraging l,6oodollars—total, 142,000,000 dollars; 1,704,273 families, averaging 7,000 dollars each-total, 0,794,000,000 dollars. These sixgroups comprise 11,593,887 out of a total population of 12,690,152 families, and possess together 16,401,000,000 dollars, or an average of 1,423 dollars—£24s per family. The roniftining 1,096,275 families, owning 71 per cent, of the national wealth, equal to 49,599,000,000 dollars; average, 45,200 dollars—£9,ooo per family. Of these, howover, 4,047 families alone possess togotber 12,000,000,000 dollars, or one-fifth of tlio national wealth, '