H.—lB.

The amount in fine ounces is stated by the United States Mint to be:—

Table 26. —Coin and Bullion in the Banks in New Zealand. £ £ £ 1891 .. .. 2,357,588 1898 .. .. 2,752,245 1905 .. .. 4,006,108 1892 .. .. 2,522,725 1899 .. .. 2,636,177 1906 .. .. 4,593,954 1893 .. .. 2,601,949 1900 .. .. 2,802,232 1907 .. .. 4,836,718 1894 .. .. 3,221,476 1901 .. .. 2,996,345 1908 .. .. 4,840,942 1895 .. .. 3,333,272 1902 .. .. 3,201,824 I 1909 .. .. 4,947,096 1896 .. .. 3,294,603 1903 .. .. 3,608,941 1910 .. .. 5,035,764 1897 .. .. 2,955,818 1904.. ..3,896,195 | This amount has therefore more than doubled during the last twenty years. Mr. Roberts, the Director of the United States Mint, in his last annual report tries to show how the gold-output during the last twenty years has gone into " actual use, for the purpose of discovering where it has been located, and how much of it has been placed where it would probably exert an influence for the expansion of credit, the stimulation of industry, and the rise of prices." He summarizes the decade production since 1880 as :-£- Dollars. 1880-89 .. .. .. .. .. 1,062,500,000 1890-99 .. .. .. .. .. 1,959,977,820 1900-9 .. .. .. .. .. 3,582,917,500 1910 .. .. .. .. .. 454,703,900 1911* .. .. .. .. .. 473,383,543 The industrial consumption of gold he states to have been : — Dollars. 1890-99 (ten years) .. .. .. .. 570,627,100 1900-10 (eleven years) .. .. .. 958,192,100 of which Australasia consumed one million dollars' worth in 1910. India, Egypt, Japan, South America, and Mexico have also taken considerable amounts of the output, which are largely withdrawn from monetary use, though they have undoubtedly influenced the credit circulation. In fact, nearly half the gold circulation of the last twenty-one years has gone into the arts and to these countries. The remainder, some of it coined, and some of it in bank reserves, must have exercised some influence in raising prices both directly and indirectly by its influence in extending credit. It appears to have had most effect in these directions in North America. 4. There is no doubt that changes in the rate of gold-production have been throughout recent history very closely associated with changes in the general level of prices. The evidence of Dr. Mcllraith (page 269) very fairly summarizes the trend of these changes. " Investigation seems to show that prices are now ten times as high as they were a thousand years ago, and from four to six times as high as they were during the period from 1215 to 1500 —that is, up to the time of the discovery of America. The discovery of America caused the introduction of an immense amount of silver and gold, principally silver, into the markets, and hence into the currency, and prices rose. From about the time of the French Revolution —1789 to 1809 —the stock of gold was rapidly increasing ; and we find that during that period prices rose. From 1809 to 1849 the stock of gold was stationary, remained fairly stationary, and prices fell. That was a period of great development of steampower. Steam was used for the first time in manufacturing. We may assume, then, that the volume of trade increased to an enormous extent, the stock of gold

Confirmation of history.

* Estimate by the Engineering Mining Journal, quoted in The Economist, 18th May, 1912.

XXXVIII

Year. Fine Ounces. Year. Fine Ounces. Year. Fine Ounces. 1890 1891 1892 1893 1894 1895 1896 5,749,000 6,320,000 7,094,000 7,619,000 8,764,000 9,615,000 9,784,000 1897 1898 1899 1900 1901 1902 1903 11,420,000 13,878,000 14,838,000 12,315,000 12,626,000 14,355,000 15,853,000 1904 1905 1906 1907 1908 1909 16,804,000 18,396,000 19,471,000 19,977,000 21,430,000 21,983,000