APPRECIATION OF GOLD.

Timaru Herald, Volume LVII, Issue 6061, 21 September 1894, Page 4

APPRECIATION OF GOLD.

The following anonyuou* Utter ia the Lyttelton Times on the *ppn-oi>»io 1 of gold makt'S more use and better use of local illustrations than any writing 00 the subjaot we had yet met with :— The able and instruo tive address of Mr Booth to the Chamber of Commero* will be read by tbeueands of your readers, who will believe Mr Booth's statements to be faots that are ao true as daylight when the sun shines. But Mr Booth has not established his oonolusions or opinions byfaot*, bat by coincidence and, apparently, by sentiment as a trader at to results. Money whether of gold coin or other material, is a standard of measure that does not vary. If it did it would be valueless as a standard measure. The prios given for tbe use or loan of money varies, but not the money itself. A pound sterling is a pound. If a person receives s pound sterling ho has to pay a pound buck again. The amount of produce, &o that a pound would buy at the time of frs b?ing lent 0; repaid back, does not affect the quction of the value of a pound at all. Mr Booth quotas the price of produce when wo borrowed, , say, twenty years ago blcJ tha prioe tor, showing the increased amount of produce required to pay a pound of interest or principal now than it did twenty years sgj. That is true as regards some produce, but not others. Twenty years ago we got f d per lb for mutton, whioh was converted into tallow, fowwo get ?id per lb, and convert it into frozen meat This on a 60. b sheep at fd is 3s 9d, and at 2£d it 11s 3J j that is three times what we got twenty years ago. And whet about butter and oheeis P Aud as regards wheat, on a thirty bushel crop it it nearly as easy to produoe wheat vow at 2< 81 per bushel as it was for 5* twenty years ago, less the rent of land. Machinery has so muoh reduced the cost of production, and tha money we borrowed reduced ihe cast of transit Tbe variation m tbe pri.'e of produce U ruled by tho supply and demand and the cost of promotion, end not by the quantity of gold 10 a country IjE the amount of wheat grown m the world was ra duped by Nay, ons third, the price would rise proper* tionate to the reduoed production, and so on nnjbil the high price limited the demand. Why j* wqo) rii\og m prioa now ? Simply becaase the consumption or demand will be increased by the removal of the duty m tbe United Btates. Why are eggs sometimes ab 0d per doeenand nt other times at 2s ftd, or potatoes at $\ par ton and at other times £fy without any alteration ju the quantity of gold. With reference tp tbe iastanoe quoted by Mr Booth, of % person borrowing #1000 and buying and utopkiog a farm, what about tho value of the farm now ? If the money was borrowed tO years ago, that farm is worth about three times cow es what was psid for it. If the borrower is to reap tbe profit yhen a rise takes plaoe, surely he mutt be the pftrppn to bear the loss when there is a

Here is a gnnuine unats sted composition of a Linden B.jard school boy of 14 yeurs of age, wrillou without previous preparation m an ordinary school iewaD. It is beaded 1 Fowls ' ' Fowl* are authorised pear? balong ing lo tour neighbour, which destroy every plant m your garden But the chief delight of fowls is to find a tidy garden, io. which there is a muck heap. If only one fowl sees it, it will go and find half a dozan more ta hep Then they will bejin. In a short time the fo*ls, garden, and muck heap are all mixed up, at least the garden seems all muck heap. Expostulation with their owner, g»ne'rally one of the British workmen type, is of no ayail. All he says is, • Why, lor ! did they really, guvnor P I wonder 'ow they got out I' People say that fowls don't pay m London ai a rule, but our British workman friend sayi they do. Yet all he gives them is a handful of cirn a day, the neighbours' gardens do the rest, and ha grows fat on the eggs he receive*, This is the only way fowls pay. People ought tt be allowed to make ohioken broth of any fowl they can catch whioh belongs to him, for they themselves really keep the fowls.' Jhe above is vouched for by the head-master of the ichool m queition.