BRITISH CURRENCY.

Press, Volume LV, Issue 16695, 2 December 1919, Page 7

BRITISH CURRENCY.

NEW TREASURY NOTES (By Cablo—PreM Association—Copyright.) ("Tho Times.") LONDON, November 29. Tho Treasury has printed large stocks of os and 2s C; 1 notes, but it has not been decided whether tho notes will be issued In tho year 1857—a famous year of money panic, when the Bank Act was suspended on Nov-cirber 12th—the prieo of silver rose io os 2Jd in London (says the "Manchester Guardian" of Septeml>er 27til I For 82 years this remained a record, but yesterday it was surpassed, and to-dav's quotation was 5s HJd per ounc«. Tho main causes of this boom aro the continued low production in Mexico and tho exceptional demand from India and China —a demand largely due, of course, to increased valuo of goods. The most recent advance has been immediately caused by veiy persistent Chinese buying. Tho Chinaman's apparently insatiable appetite for silver may very soon produce a T nsible tr. the British man-in-the-■street. For if the exceptional demand ■continues it is likely that we shall seo an issue of five-shilling Treasury notes. Such notes have for _ somo tiriio been kept in readiness for issue. The necessity for their issno, however, may not a rise._ One le.vling authority on silver described tho present condition of the market as "dangerous," and any sudden cessation of tho present abnormal Chine3o demand might quickly "knock tho bottom out of the market." If account is taken of tho rise in gold value, the price of silver, expressed in prewar terms, would he about 4s 7d aor oumco. But even that price is, I ljc--I'cvo. hifjher than anything recorded in London in tho thirty-fivo years proecdI ing the war. a