WORLD PRICE OF GOLD

Press, Volume LXXXVIII, Issue 26869, 23 October 1952, Page 9

WORLD PRICE OF GOLD

MR STOKES CALLS FOR INCREASE

(Rec. 8 p.m.) LONDON, October 22. A former Minister of Raw Materials, Mr Richard Stokes, contended in the House of Commons last night that it was ridiculous that gold should maintain the same dollar value when the cost of production had gone up. Mr Stokes asked what representations the Chancellor of the Exchequer (Mr R. A. Butler) made at the recent meeting of the International Monetary Fund to get a higher price for gold. He said 75 per cent, of the gold of the world produced outside the Soviet Union came from the I sterling area, and the present Py. ic <~ I was an insufficient cushion on which I to conduct world trade. _ Mr Butler replied that Britain had • made no representations, but speeches • in favour of a higher price for gold : were made by the representatives of South Africa and Australia. Mr Stokes asked: “How does the Chancellor expect to carry on international trade on a dollar-gold basis unless he allows the cushion to become large enough to take up the shocks?” Mr Butler replied: “This matter requires a great deal of discussion, and is one on which the American Secretary to the Treasury has stated his opinion.”