PROFIT IN SOVEREIGNS.

Manawatu Herald, Volume XXXVIII, Issue 1543, 27 April 1916, Page 2

PROFIT IN SOVEREIGNS.

Some time since Mr W. H. Field, M.P., called the Government’s attention to the fact that Chinese storekeepers were hoarding up gold which finally found its way to China. Subsequently certain thefts of gold from the Chinese were reported and dealt with in the courts of law. The Government finally prohibited people from taking more than a certain sum in gold out of the country. Dealing with gold sent to China the “3ydney Sun” says , —There are indications of a considerable leakage of gold from Australia. The medium, it states, is tfie departing Chinese, who are prepared to pay a substantial premium for sovereigns. As a matter of fact a story has come from Melbourne that iu that city they have

paid as high a rate as 23s for a sovereign. But that is hardly credible. Nevertheless, they are very anxious to get gold. A visit to test the matter was , made to a number of Chinese in Sydney. The visitor, firmly clutching a three penny-bit in his trousers pocket, decided to find out what twenty sovereigns would be worth to a Chinaman, It made him too giddy to think of any greater number. “Huh!” grunted the Chinaman contemptuously at the proposition, “Tlenty sovlins no much good. Supose you say two bundled, then plaps me talkee business.” The visitor took a deep breath, gulped, nearly broke the threepenny-bit in half, and said brightly, “Right, anything from twenty to three hundred.” Then the bargaining began. Twenty-five bob a hundred, the Chinaman suggested; then two pounds, three pounds, three pounds ten. His offers increased as the visitor took his turn to look contemptuously. But this was as far as he would go, though skilful effort might have got him up another pound. Why do the Chinese want the gold so badly ? It is not a war development. The reason lies probably in the fact that the Chinese are the most patriotic nation in the world —in a sense. They become citizens of no other country but their own, and in that respect have .the Huns licked to a frazzle. No matter in what country a Chinaman may settle, no matter how long he may be there, his one aim and ambition is to save enough to end his days and be buried in China, If it so happens that he dies in foreign lands, he generally has seen to it that his bones will be transferred to the sacred earth of his own country. The only wealth a Chinaman recognises is gold, and he hoards it tightly against his return to his native land, and when he goes the gold goes with him. Apart from that motive is the fact that China is a country with a violently fluctuating silver currency and gold is always at a big premium. It is a commodity that sells at a big profit. While the war is on no person is permitted to leave the Commonwealth with more than in gold. But the restriction is almost a dead letter. Sovereigns are easily stowed away, and except in special cases no rigid examination is made of departing persons. As a matter of fact the difficulty of making the regulation effective, even with a strict personal inspection and investigation of effects, can be guaged from the fact that although the importation of opium is totally prohibited, it gets into Australia in no small quantities, despite all the efforts of the Customs officials. One opium tin could hold a fair number of sovereigns. The banks, too, have endeavoured to stop the leakage, and several of them have refused to issue gold to Chinese. But while a hundred sovereigns will earn 5s per cent, without risking any money, in a five minutes transaction, there will be a good deal of gold leakage unless drastic measures are taken to prevent trade by private individuals.