416 TRANSACTIONS OF SECTION V. 



THURSDAY, SEPTEMBER 7. 

 The folloTving Report and Paper were received : — 

 1. Outlets for Labour on the Land. By Cheistopiiee Tuenoe. 



2i. Report on the Replacement of Men by Women in Lidustry. 

 See Eeports, p. 276. 



FRIDAY, SEPTEMBER 8. 



The following Report and Paper were received : — 



1. Report on the Effects of the War on Credit, Currency, and 

 Finance. — See Reports, p. 278. 



2. The English Historical Method in Economics. — Rent. 

 By T. B. Beowning. 



1. This paper opened with two questions : (1) Has the war introduced any 

 substantial change in the nation's attitude towards economic problems? And 

 (2), if so, is it likely to be permanent and induce a corresponding change in 

 national policy ? Answering both questions in the affirmative, the writer 

 selected for consideration the subject of rent, because the main schools of 

 economic thought, both at home and abroad, diverge at that point. 



2. Then followed the body of the article, dealing, first, with the founder 

 of economic induction in England, Dr. Richard Jones (1790-1855) ; secondly, 

 with his classification of rents, his summation of their incidents, and inferences 

 from the facts ascertained ; and, thirdly, with later developments of the inquiry 

 in respect to proprietorship and t-enancy, redemption of the soil, and the 

 relation of price to rent and rent to -wages. 



3. The view thus obtained is contrasted with the deductive or speculative 

 conception usually associated with the name of Ricardo ; with the outcome of 

 that conception as applied to India and as embodied in current doctrines of 

 increment, State-assumption of rent, and theoretic .Socialism ; its adaptability 

 to statistical and social investigation respecting the individual, the family, the 

 State ; and its relation to the prime element.? of national welfare, consumption 

 and production, price of goods, and value of industries. 



4. In conclusion the author expressed the conviction that a similar success 

 would accompany and follow a more intense application of the comparative 

 method to political economy as has signalised its application to philology, law, 

 and the several branches of sociology. 



SATURDAY, SEPTEMBER 9. 

 The following Paper and Report were received : — 



1. The Decivial System in Currency, Weights, arid Measures. 

 By Sir Richaed Buebidge and Dr. G. B. Huntee. 



It is of vital importance to prepare for the necessary reform in British 

 weights, measures, and coinage now, in order that at the end of the war we 

 shall be able to start on equal terms with our trade adversaries. An immense 

 competition for the trade of neutral countries is coming, and orders will 



