YOUR £.....

Timaru Herald, Volume CLVIII, Issue 23319, 1 October 1945, Page 8

YOUR £.....

What It Is Worth Sir John Anderson, Chancellor of the Exchequer in the Churchill Government, made a statement in the British House of Parliament just prior to the general election, which should have created a sensation throughout the British Commonwealth but did not receive the publicity the statement merited. “On the basis of the official cost of living index and price changes between 1914 and 1944,” said Sir John Anderson, “the price level of commodities —taking 1914 as representing 100 —was 156 in 1938 and 239 in 1944. On that basis,” he continued, “the domestic purchasing power of the £ sterling, taking 1914 as 20/-, was 12/10 in 1938 and 8/4 in 1944.”

Here in New Zealand, the purchasing power of the £ has suffered the same disastrous decline as the British £. Could anything demonstrate more forcibly the tragic folly of governments, elected to protect the interests of the people, permitting private banking institutions to create, issue and recall the great bulk of the nation’s purchasing power; to issue and recall this purchasing power to suit their own interests and without recognising obligations of any kind to maintain the stability of the internal price level which, in turn, would ensure a stable purchasing power of our monetary unit and so prevent the tremendous fluctuation in the people's cost of living. It should be remembered that in this Dominion during the six war years, private banking institutions, according to official banking figures confirmed by banking authorities, created and issued into circulation over £27,000,000 of new money, without cost to themselves and without regard for its effect on the price level of commodities. This additional privately created credit money was one of the major factors in the drastic reduction which has taken place in the purchasing power of our domestic £. To-day the people are at the mercy of a fraudulent system, a system which insidiously and almost imperceptibly changes the value of their money overnight, exploits them without let or hindrance and robs them of their life savings to the extent that £lOO saved in 1914 is worthy only £42 to-day. Does not this fraudulent depreciation of money values make it crystal clear that the stability of the internal price level Is the most desirable and most essential objective of monetary control? Indeed, so obvious is the answer that many eminent men in Britain, America and other countries have consistently urged this most necessary reform. On May 2, 1932, the United States House of Representatives by 289 votes to 60, passed the Goldsborough Stabilisation Bill, embodying that vital reform so strongly advocated by Senator R. L. Owen—himself a prominent banker—and approved by President Wilson and his Cabinet as far back as 1913. This Bill provided that “currency and credit should be controlled so as to maintain a stable internal price level for commodities.” Powerful banking and financial interests succeeded in having the Bill shelved in the Senate without taking a vote. That this key factor in monetary control will be made a reality is the hope of millions of people to-day. . t is not only sound and practicable but can be implemented without harm or hurt to anyone, and to the great and far-reaching benefit of all. But. it will only be accomplished if you, who have so much to gain by it, write to-day to vour representative in Parliament urging him to support and advocate the setting up of a statutory monetary authority charged with the responsibility to issue and control credit and currency so as to maintain the stability of the international price level of commodities, and thus make our monetary unit a just and stable measure of value, constant in purchasing power from year to year. (Published by the League for Economic Democracy, Phoenix Chambers, Auckland.) —P.B.A.