PRESIDENT’S ADDRESS—-SECTION F. 141 
amount of satisfactions for each consumer with an expenditure 
of a smaller amount of exertion on the part of each producer and 
distributor. 
AGGREGATE WEALTH AND INDIVIDUAL WEALTH. 
But let us again return to the outward indices of the prosperity 
of the United Kingdom. Admitting that she has great wealth 
in the aggregate, it does not necessarily follow that the share of 
satisfactions falling to the bulk of her people compares favourably 
with countries whose aggregate wealth is comparatively small. 
In point of fact, any aggregate respecting the wealth of a country 
is a pure abstraction. It is as such enjoyed by noone. Itis the 
share falling on the average to each individual which is the true 
indication of real wealth, or of the satisfactions enjoyed by the 
unit. 
This is significantly demonstrated by contrasting two widely 
differing countries in respeot of that abstract idea called national 
wealth :— 
Tasmania. United Kingdom. 
Area ... se» £16:5778;000 ...2. 77:800;000° 
Ditto per head of population .. 11413 ese) UD 
Ageresate earnings of wages class 5,519,340 .-- 800,084,000 
Working class breadwinners, esti- 
mated : ... 61,326 ... 15,884,000 
Wages ditto per head per year wy, £90 eo cao 
Average hours employed per week 44 5g 50D 
Wages per head per week . .. 84s. 6d. see pd Eesiih 
Average wages per head per hour 9d. Piel en 
Average cost of one quarter of 
wheat ae 32s. 6d. ey HO28.60. 
Equivalent of ditto in true pur- 
chasing power, viz., hours’ labour 41° hours ,,. 92° hours 
Thus it will be seen that, notwithstanding the imposing effect 
of the vast aggregate wealth of labour in England, representing 
over eight hundred million pounds sterling, the purchase of one 
quarter of wheat—the staff of life—demands of her workmen 
the expenditure of 92-° hours’ time in labour, whereas in Tas- 
mania the same amount of satisfactions can be gained by the 
expenditure of 41-° hours of labour ; that is, the English workman 
would have to work, if work could be placed at his disposal (in 
itself a greater difficulty), 123 per cent. more hours to attain the 
same purchasing power possessed by the Tasmanian workman, 
whose aggregate wealth only represents 0°69 per cent. of the 
corresponding aggregate in England. 
This clearly proves how misleading are the effects produced 
by allowing the mind to dwell upon mere abstractions based 
upon aggregates 
