Wairarapa Daily Times [Established Over 50 Years.] WEDNESDAY, 17th APRIL, 1935. GOLD MOVEMENTS.

Wairarapa Daily Times, 17 April 1935, Page 4

Wairarapa Daily Times [Established Over 50 Years.] WEDNESDAY, 17th APRIL, 1935. GOLD MOVEMENTS.

Imports of gold into Great Britain during 1934 were in quantity 39,979,307 fine ounces, and exports from Great Britain were 19,514,475 fine ounces. The quantity added to the stock already held, not to the Bank of England reserve against notes, but to the holdings on Government account or to private holdings, was thus 20,464,832 fine ounces, the equivalent of about £stg-143,000,000. The annual bullion letter of Samuel Montagu and Co. considers that this fact, together with the fact that at the

daily “fixing” of the price of gold in London, though representing only a portion of the business transacted, a total of about £5tg124,000,000 changed hands during the course of the year, clearly proves that London still maintains its position as the financial centre of the world. The value of the gold so “fixed” determines the value of the m,etal in every other national market. The letter estimates that the aggregate holdings in London, excluding the Bank of England holding, but including that held on Government account, to be £stg3oo,ooo,ooo. It is believed that the private holdings are all on foreign account, because a British holder would be liable to have his gold taken by the Bank of England, not at the market price, but at the statutory rate of 77s lfijd per fine ounce. Although there has been some trepidation among foreign hold-

ers, the section of the Currency and Bank Notes Act of 1929 makes it clear that holdings exceeding £stglo,ooo which may be compulsorily purchased "by the bank are those of persons in the United Kingdom, and it was explained at the time that the object of the amendment so limiting compulsion was to make clear the intention not to interfere with foreign holding's in London. That gold still occupies a chief place in settling international balances, the letter continues, “seems to suggest that a suitable moment will ultimately arrive when the chief countries in

the world will all base their currency upon a gold standard. Doubtless the return to such a standard can be accompanied by some adaptation of the old system to modern needs; a gold basis is necessarily short of that perfection which must ever be found lacking in human plans. Any change' however, needs most careful handling—the matter is so vital to world prosperity—lest it should fall into the control of theorists rather than of practical men.”