HOARDED INDIAN GOLD.

Auckland Star, Volume LXIII, Issue 135, 9 June 1932, Page 5

HOARDED INDIAN GOLD.

DUMPED IN ENGLAND'S LAP. SUPPORT FOlt BRITISH POUND FABULOUS STORES UNLOADED. The princcs of Indifi are disgorging untold stores of hoarded gold to support the British pound. So extensive luis this movement become that it is reliably reported that shipments from India enabled the Bank of England to meet credits of £30,000,000 due equally to the United States ai'd France in February without touching a reserve of £120,000,000 of gold then stored in the vaults of Tlireadnecdle Street. But the bank's figures are a mere trifle compared to the stocks of the princes, one of whose collections of gold plate alone is worth £500,000. Steady Drain of Gold. There has been a steady drain of gold from India for the last eight months. The movement began the same as in England by small holders who sold coins and jewellery at favourable prices, since the rupee is linked with the pound and neither is redeemable in gold. Xow it is disclosed that the princes themselves joined the rush to dispose of £20,000,000 of the precious metal, partly because they could make a profit of 30 to 40 per cent in terms of rupees and partly because of the advantage to do so for other considerations. Xot only the princes but the zamindars—wealthy landlords—are driving bargains with the Government in a deal whereby real or political commodities are exchanged for stocks of gold so badly needed to keep the pound sterling at the steady level it has held for the last two months in New York, Paris and Amsterdam, stated the "Chicago Tribune's" London correspondent. Besides pecuniary profits the reason is given that the princes are boing "good fellows" to the pound. It is political to be so. j Want to Keep Jobs. The princes are suddenly falling over one another to help Wie pound because they want to keep their jobs. The story goes back to the first London round table conference in 1030, when the princes surprised the British by plugging for independence of British India and autonomy for their own states. The Indian Government waited until Mahatma Gandhi's movement was stopped, and this is now believed to be comfortably flattened.

The way was therefore cleared and the Government had initiated plans to "punish" at least sixteen princes for misgovernment and mismanagement. The princes suddenly became supporters of the Indian Government, and they are now busy trying to erase their bad records. Offer Troops for Service. One method is to offer troops for service in China without cost to the Imperial Government. But the chief method is by a flow of gold that becomes more valuable week by week than the output of all the mines in the world. Financial authorities in London to-day say that India's importations of gold in the last 30 years alone were between £400,000,000 and £500,000,000. "In January alone," said an official of the Bank of England, "the sum of £12,000,000 in gold exports from India reached London, as against a mere £100,000 in January, 1931, and nothing at all in January, 1930 The flow is continuing. For the week ending February 8 India's gold exports amounted to £2,000,000. The following week the total was £1,000,000. Reliable figures place Indian exports of gold to London' at £35,000,000 since last September, when the pound was taken off the gold standard. Make Shrewd Bargain. It was learned that the zamindars made a shrewd bargain with the Indian Government. They agreed to supply the Government with another £35,000,000 of gold in exchange for a guarantee of their titles to lands which were granted by Lord Cornwallis, who was stationed in India after the disastrous campaign in the American Revolution. But this is only a drop in the bucket alongside the contributions of the princes. The Maharajah Dhiray of Dliaranga, alone is unloading £23,000,000 in sovereigns and cash from his buried treasures. The Nizam of Hyderabad, who is credited with being the richest man in the world, has agreed to sell a large part of his treasure trove. The Maharajah of Mayurbhanj, an important landholder of Eastern Bengal, has given family gold plate valued at £500,000. In consists of gold dishes 20 inches in diameter, and serves 400 people. Another prince from Mursliidabad has given State trappings consisting of a gold throne and a canopy covered with strings of pearls for the same reason.