GOLD IN FRANCE

Poverty Bay Herald, Volume LX, Issue 18263, 5 December 1933, Page 5

GOLD IN FRANCE

HOARDS OF NOTES In some quarters of London the view is expressed, according to the Daily Express, that France will shortly go off gold. According to the latest mail advices the Dank of France at the beginning of October held gold in the amount of 82.037,443,000 francs. an;l the note circulation ~f 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 thi> £, the value of the gold holding in sterling would be i 11.000.000.000. Whether the £90.000,000 worth of gold, said to have gone from France to F.ngland 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 <iie-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 ol ligations and necessitated drastic and not wholly adequate wage readjustments. Another like period, it is considered, would lie disastrous. French financial authorities believe that the withdrawal of foreign balances from Paris would not cause them much inconvenience. They know, however, that the position would be otherwise were the capital ot Franco to engage in a flight from the franc.