Page 63 - clra62_0019-(GIPE)

ON INTERNATIONAL STATISTICAL COMPARISONS 57
number of bankruptcies in the official statistics. At
another time the law is so stringent that debtors evade
the courts, while creditors do not make them bankrupt
because it is not worth while to do so, and so the official
bankruptcies diminish. At one time, also, non-traders
may be made bankrupt, at another time they may not be;
and so the record varies. Unless, therefore, the whole
basis of the bankruptcy law in each case is studied, no
comP'!rison is possible either between period and period
in the \ame country or between different countries. Fur-
ther difficulties would arise in any comparison, owing to
the length of the commercial cycle which renders it most
dangerous to take the figures of one year only or even
of two or three years for comparison. We can imagine,
then, what wild work is made by amateurs when they
compare the insolvency of Australia and England.
Apart from these differences there are others which are
due to fundamental differences of economic condition.
I believe, for instance, that in England a larger pro-
portion of the business done is carried on by Joint Stock
Companies than is the case in Australia. This mayor
may not be the case. But, supposing it to be the case,
how can the failures of England be compared at all with
those of Australia, without taking account of the liquida-
tions of Joint Stock Companies, and to how many units
of individual failures is that of a J oint Stock Company
to be considered equal? I would not go so far as to say
that no useful comparison could be drawn from existing
data by those who go carefully into the subject and
study all the conditions. \Vhat I am contending for is,
that it is utterly impossible for writers in a hurry to
make anything of the first figures that come to hand,
and assume that the official record of failures in one
country at one time means the same thing as the official
record of failures in a totally different country at the
same or another time.
Here, too, I would also demur to the test of bank-
ruptcy itself as indicative of the general commercial
character of a people, even if figures for comparison