Evening Post. WEDNESDAY, APRIL 6, 1910. THE NEW SILVER QUESTION.

Evening Post, Volume LXXIX, Issue 80, 6 April 1910, Page 6

Evening Post. WEDNESDAY, APRIL 6, 1910. THE NEW SILVER QUESTION.

The question raised for New Zealand by tho new silver coinage of the Commonwealth is a difficult one, and possibly one cannot grasp ita full bearings until fuller information is available on tho subject than that which we were enabled to publish last night. But it would surely be a most unneighbourly and unfortunate proceeding on the part | of our Government to refuse to recognise the Australian currency unless on much stronger grounds than ha-ve yet been disclosed. It ie by the banks, apparently, that the difficulty has been raised. Their view is 6aid to be that the enormous profit which will accrue to tho Commonwealth through the new silver coinage is a sufficient reason why New Zealand, which has no share in the profit, should refuse to circulate it. I The profit, which, works out at about 43d in the shilling, is certainly a considerable Hem, but it is not an item which would penalise New Zealand any moro than the present arrangement. Hitherto the Imperial Government has made the same profit out of the silver currency circulating in New Zealand, and the only question that is immediately raised for this country by the new position is whether or not the Commonwealth Government should be permitted to share in the profit without involving us in any further liability. We are quite unable to sec that the view which is said to be taken by the banks affords a. valid reason for withholding this permission. It would be better that New Zealand should make the whole profit on the coinage instead of allowing it to go elsewhere; but if she is not yet^ ready to tako the step, why should she make a special discrimination against the Commonwealth? - The argument attributed to the bankers gives a very good reason why New Zealand should take into consideration tho example set by the Commonwealth, and sooner or later she is bound to follow that lead. But whether sooner or later, the interval will be a considerable one, nnd some definite arrangement will have to be made on the present footing. The Commonwealth Government has certainly no right to assume that our supplies of silver, which have hitherto reached us via Australia, will continue to be drawn from the same quarter after it has become the original source of supply, and probably it has not asserted any such iii;ht. A share in the profit mitjht perhaps be reasonably oxpected by this country if it adhered to the arrangement under the new conditions. This, hou'over, would be a matter which it should not be difficult to adjust if it is tackled in a statesmanlike as opposed to a huckstering spirit. Tho main thing ! i? that our Government should studiously | avoid anything like a curmudgeonly or j dog-in-the-mancrer attitudo in tho matter. Lord Kitchener's report has railed attention to tho destiny of tin's country as bring intimately associated with that of Australia in the sovereign matter of defence, and if the co-operation is to be harmonious and successful, no chance must be missed of cultivating closer and (ii«adli«r relations in every other department. To treat Australia «i »J

foreign country by excluding her coinago would be the worst possible preparation for the military co-operation which Lord Kitchener recommends, and the last thing that New Zealanders would desire. Is it not time that the Premier told the country what he is doing iv the matter and what he hopes to do ?