Wairarapa Daily Times [Established Over 50 Years.] FRIDAY, 22nd MARCH, 1935. THE GOLD SCRAMBLE.

Wairarapa Daily Times, 22 March 1935, Page 4

Wairarapa Daily Times [Established Over 50 Years.] FRIDAY, 22nd MARCH, 1935. THE GOLD SCRAMBLE.

The Premier of Prance, M. Plandin, has hinted that unless Great Britain takes steps to keep the sterling-franc exchange where Prance wants it, Prance will be compelled to have recourse to provisional measures. In other words, he threatens retaliation by means of the tariff. Whether he would proceed to that extreme is doubtful, because Great Britain takes more from Prance than she sends to France, and in any tariff war Prance would be the loser. During the nine months of 1934 Great Britain imported from Prance and French colonies goods to the value of £16,300,000, and exported to Prance and French colonies goods of the value of £14,900,000. Noi* is the Premier on any sounder ground when he proposes to take measures against. the afflux of wandering capital. It is true that no country wants this wandering capital, which, when its holders become afraid that it is about to depreciate, seek to shift it, so upsetting the exchange and disorganising gold holdings of central banks of countries on the gold standard, but to a country on the gold standard the problem is how to prevent either the afflux or the efflux. Any measure which may be taken may be held to be a refusal to allow the standard to operate under all circumstances. Sir Henri Deterding, whose interests are largely in Dutch ventures, has for many months advocated Holland leaving the gold standard. He declares that Holland is losing heavily through adherence to the standard. His denunciation of the scramble for gold is thus understandable.