ECONOMIC CRISIS

Southland Times, Issue 21580, 18 December 1931, Page 7

ECONOMIC CRISIS

THE NATIONAL INCOME

HEAVY REDUCTION IN BRITAIN

EMPIRE CURRENCY PLAN (United Press Assn.—By Telegraph—Copyright.) London, December 16. Dr W. H. Coates, a director of Imperial Chemical Industries, Ltd., who estimates that there has been a fall of £500,000,000 in the national income for 1931 compared with 1929, addressing the Manchester Statistical Society estimated that the income for the three different years was as follows: £ 1924 4,212,000,000 1929 4,350,000,000 1931 3,842,000,000 He admitted that there had been a fall in prices, but this factor was insufficient to account for the fall shown above. A dispassionate judgment of the burden of the present taxation in relation to the national income suggested that except for a limited period it would endanger the whole economic structure and limit the taxable capacity. The gold standard basis had not only been reached, but had been passed. A plan for an Empire currency under Britain’s monetary leadership was enunciated by Mr J. F. Darling, a director of the Midland Bank, to the Textile Institute at Belfast. “We should envisage,” he said, “the creation of an Imperial monetary unit on which the £ and other currencies would be based, making it so strong that the dollar, franc and other currencies could not afford to remain independent of it. An essential factor is the retention of the freedom of the £ which it has regained. Nature yields fourteen ounces of silver for each ounce of gold which is now valued at 70 times that of silver. The solution is to revert to nature’s ratio and employ both silver and gold as money, importing thereto the relative value commensurate with their natural value. If we await an international conference to cure the world crisis we may be faced with general bankruptcy through inability to liquidate our debts. The departures from the gold standard may retard the adoption of an entire plan, but would facilitate that part relating to Britain and India. The governments of the Empire should agree to constitute a super bank, pool the Empire’s gold reserves and raise the price, thereby simultaneously rehabilitating silver and preventing the accumulation of gold in any one country.” EXCHANGE OF VIEWS FRANCO-BRITISH DISCUSSIONS. (British Official Wireless.) Rugby, December 16. Sir Frederick Leith Ross, of the Treasury, is leaving to-morrow for Paris where he will exchange views with representa- j tives of the French Government in antici- i pation of the international conference on reparations which will be held after Ihe report is received from the Special Advisory Committee under the Young Plan now sitting at Basie. The date and place of the meeting has not yet been fixed. GE RM AN Y’S POSITION INVESTIGATION AT BASLE. (British Official Wireless.)

(Rec. 5.5 p.m.) Rugby, December 16. A drafting sub-committee consisting of Signor Beneduce (Italy), Sir Walter Layton (Britain), Professor Rist (France) and Dr Melchior (Germany) has now begun work on the report of the Young Plan Advisory Committee which is engaged at Basle in an examination of Germany's financial capacity. The committee yesterday heard a statement from Dr Hornberger on the financial position of the German railways which under the Young Plan contribute £33,000,000 annually, equivalent to the amount of the unconditional annuity, to reparation payments. Exhaustive evidence has now been taken on every aspect of German finances, and this has gone to show that all the three principal sources of money earmarked to provide reparation payments have suffered substantial diminution. Meanwhile, other committees are examining the ‘ railways’ accounts and points of detail concerning the German Budget.