THE COLD PROBLEM.

Poverty Bay Herald, Volume XXXVI, Issue 11842, 4 May 1909, Page 2

THE COLD PROBLEM.

It is the favorite doctrine just now that what financial stringency i s experi; euccd is^ due to lack of capital in* the country. '.-'■ Much depends upon what •iwe. connote by capital. To most persons it means gold and silver irt coin, or m bars. Perhaps from this point of view it .will not be uninstructi^e to note that the gold m circulation m the United Kingdtom, now larger than ever i before' m actual amount, is estimated by tlie authorities ol the Royal Mint at £116j000>000.. This is less than an average of £3 per head of the population. On the 31st of March last the coin and bullion actually known to bo m New Zealand, because m the banks or under their purview, waa £4,712,955. This Js an average of nearly £5 per head of the population. Practically, if the possession of bullion is any guide to a solution of the problem, we.in New Zealand are better-, off b^ nearly £2 per Head than is the case m the United y Of course the iuference is that the amoiiht of gold m hand 'solves very few prob'« Jems related! to prosperity "aaid depression. As a matter of fact, the world trades oil credit, and paper money,' in the shape of notes and drafts l promises to pay, constitutes, tlio real circulating mediuni.f- Napier Telegraph.