POUND SOARING

Southland Times, Issue 21649, 10 March 1932, Page 7

POUND SOARING

DEMAND FOR STERLING NEW YORK A HEAVY BUYER OFFERINGS SNAPPED UP (British Official Wireless.) Rugby, March 8. Sterling made a remarkable rise against the other leading currencies on the market to-day. From overnight levels of 3.53} dollars the New York rate shot up to 3.71} dollars. This recovery automatically caused a reduction in the price of gold. A message from New York states that the pound sterling soared 17J cents on Tuesday to 370 J cents for cable transfers, the highest since the last fall. The Canadian dollar is 00 cents or a quarto; of a cent lower than on Monday. Foreign exchange dealers say that New York is a substantial buyer of sterling, though most of the buying originated in Europe. A sharp rally absorbed all the offerings made by the British Treasury, which is said to be eager to hold the price down. 'The world has turned bullish on sterling," was the explanation of one buyer, PAYING PENALTY COUNTRIES WITH GOLD. (Rec. 5.5 p.m.) London, March 9. The President of the Board of Trade, Mr Walter Runciman, addressing retail distributors, said Britain had surmounted great financial and commercial difficulties. Those countries which had succeeded in getting immense stores of gold were now paying the penalty. "We are able to show them we can carry on without a gold basis,” he said. "We put sterling on such a sound basis that it became the envy of the world. We are gradually getting the trade balance on a sound footing, leading the world in currency sanity and abandoning the idea of a monopoly of gold, which means a monopoly of the world's prosperity.’’ YEAR OF OPPORTUNITY SPEECH BY CHANCELLOR. (British Official Wireless.) (Rec. 5.5 p.m.) Rugby, March 8. The Chancellor of the Exchequer, Mr Neville Chamberlain, addressing a Conservative meeting to-day, said he looked upon 1931 as England’s year of danger and 1932 as England’s year of opportunity. Few could fail to be amazed at the change which had taken place in the national outlook during the past six months. They were not, however, yet out of the wood. They mugt carry on a little longer and go forward with confidence in the hope that there would be a great expansion of trade and prosperity.