Polynesian. [volume] (Honolulu [Oahu], Hawaii) 1844-1864, 1851-06-14

the progress of the nation in manufactures
and commerce, the transition is natural and
| easy in those undertakings by which COM
merce has been most effectually promoted
We mean the construction Of roads, and the
| appliances of all the means Of locomotion.
In lsoo. In 1sis.
length OF Navieable Canals in
England and Wales 1,7oo 2.2oo
Mr.. MacAdam's improved mode of con-
structing roads was introduced in 1920.
The first Act of Parliament for the con-
structiOn of a railway was passed in 1900.
Since then, 5000 miles of road Of this des-
cription, have been formed, by an expenditure
of at least f25O, ,OOO, 900, raising an annual
income of nearly fI2;OOO, 900, carrying, an
nually, upwards of 60, ,OOO, 900 of passengers,
and employing a staff Of more than $4,000
well-paid officials.
Steam navigation is also the work Of our
own times. The Comet plyed on the CLYDE
in the year 1911, and in lS4S we pos
sessed ,253 steam vessels, of I68. .O7S tons
burden. Then as TO internal facilities for
communication, six out Of the eight bridges
over the Thames, within the metropolitan
precincts, have been built since 1900. The
London and West India docks, the break
water at Plymouth, the Thames Tunnel, the
Menai suspension bridge and the two tubular
bridges, have also been constructed during
the half-century. Nor must we omit that
other wonderful agent, the Electric Tele-
graph, which has converted into simple mat
ter of fact, the most improbable of poetic
fictions, and outstripped the fantastic per-
formances of Prospero's tricksy spirit, bind
irg nations together by invisible ties Of sym
pathy, conveying important public and pr-
vate communications, with the raPidity of
thought, and arresting the steps of the thief
and the murderer, as by the paralyzing
stroke of magic wand Nor are indications
wanting in the rapid accumulation of capital.
The precise amount Of this increase we have
no very accurate means of ascertaining, but
a few comparative statements will show that
it has been immepse, and far out of all pro-
portion to the mere increase of population.
The value of real property in Great Britain
assessed TO the income tax. in 1903, was
f967, ,2S4 900; in lS42 it was fl 500, ,OOO,- :
OOO The total amount of incomes derived
from trades and professions, deducting, in
both cases, those under ESQ, was, in 1912,
f2l ,247 600; in lS4S f56 ,99O, 900. The
amount Of capital subject to legacy duty was
in 1900, f4, /, i22 900; in 1913, f44 ,3is, 900.
The sums insured against fire, in Great
Britain, were, in 1901, f232 24O, 900; in
IS45, f722 2,OOO. 900. We have plenty of
indications that this accumulation of property
has been shared by all classes. And first,
as to the institution of Savings banks, alto
gether a creation of the present century-the
first savings bank having been established at
Tottenham, in Middlesex, by Mrs. Pricila
Wakefield, in 1904. The deposites in these
institutions, in 1913, amounted to no less
than f3l. .743, $50, standing in the names of
more than million of depositors and this
amount must be regarded as an accumulation
Of property since 1904, by the humber clas-
ses Of the community. A tendency towards
an increase Of the number of moderate, and
comparative dimnution in the number of
colossal incomes, is brought to light by a
comparison of the income tax returns Of lSl2
with those Of 1913, thus !: