GOLD IN FRANCE.

Manawatu Standard, Volume LIII, Issue 313, 1 December 1933, Page 8

GOLD IN FRANCE.

HOARDS OF NOTES.

In some quarters in London the view is expressed, according to the Daily Express, that France will shortly go off gold. According to the latest mail advices the Bank of France at the beginning of October held gold in the amount of 82,037,443,000 francs, and the note circulation of the bank was 82,547,180,000 francs. The note issue was almost covered by gold. With the value of the franc at 82 to the £, the value of the gold holding in sterling would be £1,000,000,000 sterling. Whether the £90,000,000 worth of gold, said to have gone from France to England during one week recently, came from the Bank of France or from hoards it is not stated. Hoards of notes in France are believed to amount to 20 000,000,000 francs, that is almost one-fourth of the note issue. Why the French Government is so determined to maintain the gold standard is that seven years ago France experienced a period of inflation which, with the subsequent depreciation of the franc to one-fifth of its then nominal value, seriously reduced the incomes of professional men and owners of fixed money obligations and necessitated drastic and not wholly adequate wage adjustments. Another like period, it is considered, would be disastrous. French financial authonbelieve that the withdrawal of foreign balances from Paris would not cause them much mconvience. They know, Jiowever, that the position would be otherwise were the capital.of France: to engage in a flight from the franc.