GOLD STANDARD

Grey River Argus, 7 August 1925, Page 5

GOLD STANDARD

EFFECT IN BRITAIN. CONFLICTING VIEWS. (Received August Ii at 7,40 p nt.) LONDON, August 5. The House of Commons, after a v igorous defence of the gold standard by Mr Churchill, read the second time the Appropriation Bill. Mr H. B. Lee-Smith (Labourite) attacked the return to the gold standard ns having been premature. He blamed it for the increasing unemployment,. He complained that there bad been no decrease in internal prices to correspond with the increase in external prices. Mr Lee-Smith added: ‘‘Everybody knows that the Australian Government wer,. told to raisb their money in NewYork, and not here.”

Mr Churchill said that no responsible party challenged the principle of the gold standard. <f lf we had not taken this action/’ he said, M the rest of the Enipiiy would have taken it without us, and the outcome would have boea a gold standard, not of the pound stet* ling, but of the dollar.”

Among solid and remarkable factors to be considered as consequences of the gold standard, Mr Chureliill mentioned that the capital (loan) issues for domestic purposes during the first six months of 1925 exceeded by more than double the similar issues during the first six months of 1924. Sterling had recovered partly with the gold dollar. It had established an equilibrium of the Australian and South African currencies. The Bank of England’s goto had increased by from eight to nine millions. The general money rate had eased. The general tendency of foreign countries towards stabilisation had increased. For instance, India could now consider a sterling rate at which to stabilise the rupee. Mr Churchill added that the coal subsidy was very objectionable, but it was g.|.*atly preferable to a veiled subsidy on exports.