THE PRICE OF SILVER

Otago Witness, Issue 3442, 2 March 1920, Page 41

THE PRICE OF SILVER

GOVERNMENT ACTION URGED

(From Oub Own Correspondent.) LONDON, November 26. Steadily for several weeks haa the price of silver' continued to go up, until at its present price of 5s 7d per ounce, the actual value of our silver coins is equal to, if not greater than, their face value. Apart from the iliegalitv of melting silver coins, it would probably not pay those who contemplated such an offence to do so until the price rose still further, but the upward tendency is so pronounced that some measures will doubtless become necessary to prevent the same difficulties arising hero as were experienced in France m regard to their silver circulation. For the moment there is no shortage here of Bilver currency, but that hoarding is going on to a considerable degree is an uncontrovertible fact Sufficient silver currency has been issued to average £1 per head for every-man, woman, and child in the United Kingdom but nothing like this amount is m actual circulation. INFLUENCE OF CHINESE. The chief cause of the rise in the price of silver is declared to be a marked change in the habits of the Chinese. They have taken to hoarding silver coins. Iney have been extensive purchasers of the metal tor soma considerable time, yet the regular statements of their banks show no corresponding accumulations in their vaults. I here is but ono explanation—the individual Chinaman is hoarding his money, and until such time as he realises the waste and futility of such a course prices must continue to rise, for the demand now greatly exceeds the supply. __ WILLING SELLERS. One practical outcome of the present inflated price is that people are debating the wisdom of keeping useless articles of silver, or even of articles that can hardly be regarded as useless. The "New Poor" has a chance to get good value for pretty but useless silver articles. Silver vases, candlesticks, inkstands, photograph frames, and other odd bits are all worth selling and are beginning to flow into the hands of the refiners. Old silver spoons and forks, entree dishes, and other stable ware are also realisable immediately at the current price. Already the Government has been advised by critics to take the bold step of calling iu the present silver coins and issuing others containing a larger alloy of nickel, zinc, lead, and aluminium, but, in well-informed circles, such a course is strongly deprecated. Before the war hall-marked silver sold as low as Is 9d an ounce. NICKEL COINS. The rise in the price of silver brings the coinage problem nearer again. There is _a strong public objection, largely on hygienic grounds, to the issue of paper money ot small values. It is understood that - the Finance Committee of the London Chamber of Commerce will submit a resolution in favour of nickel coinage. At its present price nickel is worth little more than l£d per ounce, and nickel shillings of the same weight as silver shillings would thus cost about a fortieth of the price. But in other countries nickel coins generally consist of only a quarter nickel and three-quarters copper. Copper being half the price of nickel, this alloy makes the cost cheaper still. { FRENCH TRAFFICKERS. ! An interesting sidelight has been shown on the dearth of French silver coinage by five arrests which have been made by the Paris police. The recent rise in the price of silver has intrinsically increased the value of silver coinage as a metal, and the result is that the franc and two franc pieces are worth much more than their nominal monetary value. According to a Paris correspondent, surreptitiously withdrawn from circulation, they have found their way into the melting-pot, to issue therefrom in the shape of bar silver—the process of converting silver coinage into ingots leaving a handsome margin of profit. BANK DISCOVERY. Search made at a small Paris bank led to the discovery of a single ingot of silver weighing over 60 pounds, which had been obtained by the melting down of two and one franc pieces. The manager of a metal refinery on the outskirts of Paris, as well as the man who brought the ingot of silver to the bank and offered it for sale, have been arrested. Two other men were arrested at Montmartre for illegal trafficking in silver. The police laid their hands on a fifth man, named Frollo, a Swiss, as he was about to leave for the Swiss frontier. In a belt round his waist was about 700 francs in silver pieces. Under recent French law offences of this kind arepunisbable by a fine and imprisonment. The authorities are now satisfied that the melting down of this coinage has for some time been carried out on an extensive scale in Paris and the chief French cities by well-organised • groups of silver speculators, who have found the operation a very lucrative one. Early in the war silver coins began _ to ,disappear from circulation in France, causing immense difficulties to the public and to shopkeepers. The process has continued till in most districts silver is rarely seen. If it can be got anywhere it is in Paris and the north, where the silver famine is less acute. In the south it is seldom now seen. In the south copper is vanishing, too. after silver. There is a great scarcity of copper I change. Thus, in Toulouso 10-eentime tickets for journeys on a tramway that was not running and 10-oentime stamps were doim; duty for the French Government 10centimo (|d) piece. Tramway tickets were commonly given by the waiters as change in the cafes, and were readily accepted there.. They were naturally valueless outside Toulouse. LOW-VALUE PAPER MONEY. As a substitute for silver there are French bank notes of as low denominations as 10 francs (roughly 6=) and live franoe (3.?) in genera! circulation. But for still smaller change—and such is required at every turn —most towns and districts have printed small paper notes of one franc (worth a little less than 7d) and 50 centimes (s£d). .. Each town or district has its own notes, and these .are not readily taken at a distance when they are new —and most of them are old. gre'asv, and lamentably dilapidated. The traveller's life in these conditions is not an easy says another man writing- from France. Before he leaves a place he hay to get rid of its paper money, and by hook or crook to secure some silver for his journey, or else so to arrange bis expenses and '. plans that he will need no small change en i route. He is very apt to be given the un-

welcome paper at the booking office or office for the registration of luggage, as the people there often have nothing else.