THE MONEY MARKET.

Auckland Star, Volume LIX, Issue 190, 13 August 1928, Page 4

THE MONEY MARKET.

' LONDON FINANCE. i ; f i «.>Lt »N lAL STOCKS WANT!!!', It j I 3 • An.-t r;ilian and N.Z. Press Asj-oei.-itiou.) j 1 I.OXDUN. August 11. , i Tin- g-ntr.ii holiday siaekness is notice- m | .liiii' uii tin.' Stork Exchange. and a revival) ! | !•; ai tivity is nut cxpccUii boiote the end' Int September. In spite of a tendency for ea-y monetary conditii >ns. gilt-edged | ~f. unties show a tirui undeitone audj v 111.i• stocks au- m good request. The j • last, I wiuuionwealtli lean lias hardened, as I • u.is expected. and i» now quoted at H <• premium. !u tlu-s'e cii cuinstances the j ina; ket. as i.ne linancial paper points out, < would well oine new loans, and it is highly : probable that se\cial large new gilt-edged issue* will he floated beiore the end of ! the \ i a; . s In tins connection it is interesting to . note that their has been great activity in new loan dotations this year. The Mid- ' land Hank publishes statistics showing : that new capital issues tor the seven ■ months to -luly 31. excluding Government j loans, amounted to £244.43t>,U«>U, compared i ] with *2 194.588.000 tor the same period oi 10J7. and tl 1.38.365,000 in l!.'2<>. Ot this • v ear's total roughly £33.000.000 went to 1 countries. £69.000,000 to various parts oi the Empire, and ±1140.000,000 to ■ the United Kingdom. STABILISING THE FRANC. THI-: MORAL ASPECT. Discussing the proposal to stabilise the French franc. which was ultimately fixed at a parity ot 124.21 cents to the £1 sterling, as against the pre-war value of 2.V225. the "London Economist'" says: — There is a disposition in some quarters. ! stimulated by the very vocal complaints | ot the French rentiers, to regard this move as a rather shameful compromise of France with her creditors. But this is a very narrow and one-sided view. Instead ot throwing any such complaints in their teeth, we should rather congratulate the French Government on its decision. The step is one which is not only expedient in the interests of French economic life, but .in the circumstances, is right and just. Creditors of the Government, and. indeed, creditors of all kinds, who made loans in pre-war francs, have already lost a very great part of the value of their securities, but so have creditors all over the world, the amount of loss only varying in degree. In this country, for example, the rise of prices has caused a depreciation of about one-third in the pre-war £. Who is to blame or whether governments whose currency has lost 50, 80. or 100 per cent of its value, are reprehensible in proportion to the depreciation, are matters which it is idle to discuss. The fact is that when once the value of a currency has settled down ct a new level any attempt to restore s„ to a former level involves not merely economic disturbance, but new 1 injustices, and every year which passes means that the new injustices that would be involved in revalorisation increase, while the possibilities of righting the old ! injustices rapidly diminish. As our Paris j correspondent suggests, if the French franc were to return to its pre-war value, it A-ould give an enormous bonus not only to Frenchmen, but to a large number of foreigners who have invested in franc securities in recent years, and j would impose a corresponding burden on all who owe francs, including the French Government. P. AND 0. DEFERRED STOCK. (Australian and N.Z. Press Association.) LONDON. August 11. P. and O. deferred stock is quoted at £234 10/.