(To THE EDITOR OF THE SPECTIT03. 6 1 SIR,—I have read the
article in your issue of February 24th on this subject with great interest, and I agree with you in thinking that Government assistance of the nature suggested by Mr. Wilson Fox at the Society of Arts has its dangers as well as some advantages. There is, however, in my opinion, a method by which Government assistance could be given to projects for the develop- ment of our national resources to which no objections of the nature you so well point out could be made. If, instead of pro- viding capital for commercial enterprises, the Government, after careful investigation, were to guarantee a minimum interest on the-capital required sufficient to attract the prudent investor, and share with those finding the money the profits beyond the amount necessary to provide that interest, enterprise would be left untrammelled, and the management of the concerns so assisted would remain in private hands. By this means the speculative as well as the prudent investor would be attracted, and a vast amount of capital, now often lost in hazardous concerns, would be forthcoming for sound enterprises of national importance.—I
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