THE GOLD STANDARD.

Auckland Star, Volume LVI, Issue 185, 7 August 1925, Page 7

THE GOLD STANDARD.

CHANCELLOR'S DEFENCE

SOVEREIGN V. DOLLAR.

LONDON, August «. After a vogorous defence of the gold standard in the House of Commons by the Chancellor of the Exchequer, Mr. Winston Churchill, the Appropriation Bill whs read a second time. Mr. H. B. Lees Smith, Labour member for West Riding (Yorkshire), attacked the return to the gold standard a« premature. He blamed it for the increasing unemployment. and complained that there was no decrease in internal prices to correspond with the increase in external prices. '"Everybody knows," said Mr. Smith, "that the Australian Government was told to raise the money it heeded hi New York, not in London." Mr. Churchill said: "No responsible party has challenged the principle oi the gold standard. If we had not taken this action the rest of the Empire would have taken it without us. The outcome would have been a gold standard, not of the pound sterling, but of the dollar." Among the solid and remarkable factors to be considered as consequences of the gold standard Mr. Churchill mentioned the capital issues for domestic purposes in the first six months of 1925. He shid these more than twice exceeded similar issues in the first six months of 1924. Sterling had recovered its parity with the gold dollar and had established the equilibrium of Australian and South African currencies. The Bank of England's gold had increased by "18,000,000 or £9.000.000. The general money rate had eased and the general tendency on the part of foreign countries toward stabilisation had increased. For instance, India could now consider the sterling rate at which to stabilise the rupee.— (Reuter).