28 MARCH 1925, Page 3

Mr. Runeiman has said in a speech that nearly £800,000,000

is invested in various State securities - by more than 15,000,000 people. If the figures are correct, cr approximately so, here is remarkable evidence of the spread of ownership. The more owners there are the more stable must the country be. In a letter to the Times on Tuesday, however, Professor Henry Clay -said that Mr. Runciman's inference that capital is better dis- tributed than ever before cannot be safely drawn. He thinks that. eighteenth century England with its small farmers and master craftsmen must have had a much wider distribution of capital.