THE CURRENCY QUESTION

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXIX, Issue 21347, 23 November 1932, Page 15

THE CURRENCY QUESTION

Sir, —At a time like the. present when any suggestion is better than none at all I would like to submit the following scheme as an alternatjve to the demands of the farmers for exchange inflation. It would give the result the farmers are asking for without having the effect of increasing prices. Let the Government pass the necessary legislation and establish "economic restoration currency bonds with a face value of £1 each. These bonds to have a currency of, say, one year, arid to be redeemed in the following manner:— On the back of each bond there would be spaces for stamps of the value of 3d each. Every time the bond changed hands the receiver would aflix one stamp. When 84 stamps are attached, the bond to be redeemed at any post office. The Government will have received 21s in payment for the stamps, which would leave a profit of 5 per cent to cover ihe cost of printing, etc. These bonds would create a temporary inflation of currency and the increase of business would more than compensate for the threepenny tax, so that the bonds would bo self supporting and be redeemed everv few months. The bonds in the first place would bo issued to the farmers as a bonus on their production. The same principle could be applied for the payment of unemployment wages, charitable aid, old-age pensions, subsidy to manufacturers in place of a tariff and for private debt redemption, the latter being a matter quite as urgent as the predicament of the farmers at the present time. George Finn.