NO MOKE PAPER MONEY.

Western Star, 1 April 1920, Page 2

NO MOKE PAPER MONEY.

REGAINING SOUND METALLIC BASIS. Commenting upon the Commonwealth Prime Minister’s statement that the Government would put no .more paper money on the market, the Argus says:— / Mr Hughes’s announcement in Sydney that there is to be no further issue of paper money will be read with feelings of relief. The inflation of the currency is one of the chief causes of high prices, though * some absurd people persist in the belief that a community can continue for an indefinite time to purchase their goods with the product of a small printing press. There are now on issue in Australia notes representing a nominal value of about £20,000,000, apart from the notes normally required for legitimate .currency purposes, and apart from the notes placed with the banks when the Government took over the gold held by the banks. It is important that these redundant notes should be called in, and it is obvious that tills must be done gradually. How the deflation is to he accomplished is a question for the Government to decide. The best expert advice should be sought, and the sooner Mr Hughes announces his intentions the better. The beginning of a. movement to “get back to the metallic basis ” should! haive an immediate steadying effect upon trade and credit. Even the brief declaration made by Mr Hughes .should have a wholesome* effect; and when a considered policy is put into operation a general fall in prices may bo expected.