HIRE PURCHASE .
By Aylmer Valiance
Mr. Aylmer Vallance's little book (Nelson, 2S.) is an admirable contribution to an admirable series. The subject is particularly apt for group discussion, combining as it does interesting points of economic theory and matter which is within the day-to-day experience of most individuals ; the arrangement and treatment are clear, and there is a store of useful information about the new Act. The most serious criticism, perhaps, to be levelled against it is that Mr. Valiance makes his own case so thoroughly and neatly that many people, having read what he has to say, might sit back and murmur " Well, that's that. I'm glad to know all about it. Evidently there's nothing more to argue about there." Which is all very well, provided that the express aim of the book is not, pre- cisely, to start its readers arguing. Mr. Valiance appears, in fact, not only to start hares, but to pursue them single handed, catch and despatch them, and serve them up tastily cooked and needing nothing but digestion. This view, however, is not a complete one; for there are several hares still running loose when he has finished. On the theoretical level there is the fascinating question, raised in Mr. J. R. Meade's Consumers' Credits and Unemployment, of the possibility of actual Government financing of hire-purchase in times of slump ; on the level of day-to-day experience, there is the distinction to be drawn between getting things which one would not otherwise be able to afford at all and getting things which one can afford a year or two earlier, between luxuries (like a large wireless set) and earning assets (like a washing machine) and so on. Despite its apparent finality, Mr_ Valance's book should start some lively debates.
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