The Bi-Metallic League of Great Britain.

Star (Christchurch), Issue 5272, 31 May 1895, Page 1

The Bi-Metallic League of Great Britain.

British bi-metallists mustered in force at the annnal meeting of the League, held at the Mansion House, last month. In many respects the occasion was a notable one. The Lord Mayor of London was announced to take the chair, but in his unavoidable absence hiß place was filled by Alderman Sir Joseph Dimsdale. The attendance was larger than at any previous gathering of the League. Many wellknown and prominent men were on the platform, and the audience included an imposing array of politicians, bankers, professional and city men. The report of the Council was pitched in a hopeful, almost a jubilant, key. The speeches were of a high order, as befitted the reputation and ability of the speakers, and their enthusiasm seems to have infected an audience disposed to be kind, no doubt, but critical and well informed on the Bubject. The Council- reported that during the past year the cause of international bimetalliem had made unprecedented progress. The number of adherents had steadily increased. New branches of the League had been established with much Bucceea in various important centres of industry. Many and largely-attended public meetings had been held throughout England and Scotland, and there was evidence of a remarkable growth of profound oonviction as to the .necessity for 'monetary reform on the lines advocated •by the League. Most of the great labour organisations had identified themselves with the movement, and one of them had [subscribed JBSOO to the funds. Bi-metallio ■organisations had spinng into existence, 'and were doing useful work in Australia, | (New Zealand, India and the far Eastern •British possessions, while the movement jwas making rapid headway in France, ;Germany, ■ Austria-Hungary and other European countries, and in the United' States. The Council regarded all thia as eminently satisfactory and encouraging, mainly as an incentive to renewed and more vigorous action on the part of those who wished to put an end to the grave disturbances in the industrial life of Great Britain, which were due largely to defects in the monetary system.

The first speaker was, Mr H. B. Grenfell, an ex-Governor bf the Bank of England, who has been an ardent advocate for bimetallism; for at least fourteen years. Following him came one of the most effeotive speeches of the day, by the Hon Evelyn Habbard, a director of the Bank of Eogland. Part of this 'speech is well worth quoting. He Baid, "I started heavily weighted with the jopinipn, that legislation OQUId nevet pO3* iiibly fix the relative, price of two comjmodities which vary in supply. I have become aware that bi-metalliam involves the regulation, not of price, but of ratio, and that what was possible to the Latin Union cannot be impossible to Europe and the United States. I imagined that even were a ratio fixed' by law between gold and silver, the market price must inevitably' vaiyifrp^D. the legal ratio in accordance with. the increase or decrease in the production of either metal;., I discovered that this 1 is not a matter of argument, but of history— that the record of the years 1849-52 has furnished; the most conclusive demonstration of the power of the ratio to keep the price steady, even in the face of the most violent fluctuation in supply. I entertained a vague, yet firm, impression that the commercial supremacy of England was largely attributable to her gold standard. I find that Eogland was both nominally and practically hi- metallic up to the end of last, century, that she enjoyed all the advantages of bi-metalliam up to 1873, and that it is only during the last twenty years of falling prices and depressed trade that she has been strictly mono-metallic I was haunted by the vision of my debts being pressed on my acceptance at inconvenient momenta in the form of cumbrous barrowfuls of silver. I have become aware that under bi-metallism, debts will bs paid as they are now, by cheque or bills of exchange, a,nd that under no circumstances are wa likely to receive payments before they are due. Again, the insular argument was not without weight. England,

itwaa urged, is a great creditor country ; all the world is indebted to her in sterling. If gold is appreciating, so much the better for ua. Why should we not leave well alone ? This particular millstone, however, fell from my neck the first. It requires little consideration to see that it is not only essentially immoral, but also' aelf-destruc-tive. If gold appreciates, your gold standard stands condemned by failure in the most essential attribute — that of stability; while you are convicted of mulcting your debtor, not only of the interest which he agreed to pay, but also of the unearned increment, the increase of purchasing power, which your currency has acquired by lapse of time." These words should at leant arrest the attention of those opponents of the reform who scoff at bi-metallism as an impraotipable fad.

The utterances of the Eight Hon A. J. Balfour are of epecial - interest at this juncture, BeeiDg that the nest shuffle of the political cards will probably place him in a position of great power. On this occasion there was no trace of the cautious reserve which commoDly characterises the public utterances of political leaders. There was no mistaking his meaning. He announced his conviotiona on the subject with the utmost decisiveness and vigour. He referred to the fact that the grounds of controversy regarding bi-metallism, or rather the forms of the arguments employed, had changed. No one nowadays ventures to condemn the thing as intrinsically impossible, for both reason and experience would put euch a statement to shame. No ODe nowadays denies that gold has appreciated, or that the fall in silver has Anted as a bounty en Indian txporlt. The monometallists say, "We like to see gold appreciate, because we are the creditor country, and the more gold appreciates the larger, practically, will

be the amoum

it our debtors have to

pay us in order to liquidate the sum." They aay that a bounty on Indian exports iB a good thing, because it cheapens wheat to the English consumer, even though auch cheapness may ruin the English and English-speaking producer. The first part of thia argument, a? Mr Hubbard put it, S both immoral and self-destructive, whiel

the second part will hardly commend itself to a producing community such as ours, any more than to the producers in the Old Country. In reference to the " leave-well-alone" argument, Mr Balfour asked, " Is it well? What is the British system of currency? You go to Hong Kong and the Straits Settlements, and you find obligations are measured and debts are paid in silver j you go to England, and you find that obligations are measured and debtß are paid in gold j you Btop half-way, in India,' and you find that obligations are measured and debts are paid in something which is neither gold nor i silver — the strangest product of monometallist ingenuity which the world has ever seen— a currency which is as arbitrary as any forced paper currency which the , world has ever heard' of, and which is as expensive as any metallic currency that the world has ever faced, and which, unhappily, combines in itself all the disadvantages of every currency which human beings have ever tried to form. That, gentlemen, is what we call the British system of currency, and we are expected to carry on to the best advantage— l won't say foreign trade, but trade with our own colonies and our dependencies with a standard—with three standards, two varying according to the accidents of natural production, the other varying according to the arbitrary will of the Secretary of State for India. Now, it is absurd to say that this is a system which cannot be improved. It is, a ridiculous system, and therefore, if we concentrate our attention upon ourselves alone— upon the British Empire; that part of it -which is practically governed from Westminster**-! say that some alteration is imperatively required." In conclusion, the speaker dealt tvith the question in the light of England's foreign relations; deprecated the folly of adhering to a selfish and stupid syatein of isolation, especially in view of England's dependence on foreign countries for her food supply, and eloquently urged the advantages of promoting community among civilieed nations, of making firm the foundations of international brotherhood, of strengthening the bonds of mutual interest, and, as a means to this end, of establishing a just and equitable medium for the settlement of international debts.