24 Transactions. — Miscellaneous. 



equal to that of Mr. Bakewell and Mr. Booth in increasing the size and 

 modifying the forms of their herds ; and that their remote descendants, not 

 having lost the art, commenced a moa farm in this island of the Pacific, 

 having brought with them a basket of eggs from Hawaiiki or LemiTria. 



Art. II. — On Mill's Fourth Fundamental Theorem respectinfj Capital. 

 By John Caeeuthers, M. Inst. C.E. 

 [Read before the Wellington Philosophical Society, 12th January, 1878.] 

 In John Stuart Mill's " Principles of Pohtical Economy " wealth is defined 

 to be " all useful or agreeable things ivhich possess exchangeable value ;" capital 

 is defined to be "a stof^k previoushj accumulated of the products of former 

 labour.''' (Preliminary Eemarks, p. 6, People's Edition, 1869.) 



These definitions are almost the same, as scarcely anything possesses 

 exchangeable value except the products of former labour. 



Natural productions which can be and have been appropriated, are 

 useful and have exchangeable value ; they are, therefore, by the definition, 

 wealth ; but as they are not the product of former labour they are not 

 capital. The natural grasses on the Canterbury plains, for instance, are 

 wealth but not capital ; artificial grasses in the same field are both wealth 

 and capital. 



Monopolies are also wealth but not capital ; they are useful to the 

 owner, and are exchangeable for commodities, but are not the product of 

 former labour. 



With these two exceptions, everything defined by the one word is also 

 defined by the other ; that is, capital is an accumulated stock of the 

 products of former labour, and wealth is the same thing with monopolies 

 added ; for the sole right to the use of land or of any other free gift of 

 nature, is only a monopoly. 



When thus stated the necessity of a radical change in the definition of 

 one or both words becomes apparent. 



I propose to define wealth to be " everything in the world which is 

 useful or agreeable to man ;" and capital to be the " ownership of that 

 wealth." 



This definition of capital would require some limitation in order to bring 

 it more nearly into accordance with the usual meaning of the word, but 

 for my present purpose it is not necessary to be more minute, more 

 especially as by doing so my paper would reach to an unwieldy length. 



