THE EFFECTS OF NEW GOLD FIELDS ON AGRICULTURE. [From the Mark Lane Express.]

New Zealand Spectator and Cook's Strait Guardian, Volume IX, Issue 812, 14 May 1853, Page 4

THE EFFECTS OF NEW GOLD FIELDS ON AGRICULTURE. [From the Mark Lane Express.]

by the inupuoa ol Hie baroanani. Mining' operations were not resumed in Europe till ibe eighth century. From that time till the discovery of America, the produce wai no more than sufficient to replace the annual loss by abrasion of the coin. It has been estimated that, by means of ihis and other losses, such as ship-wrecks, hoards concealed in troublesome limes and never recovered, the stock of gold and silver had been reduced by the 15th century to about thirty-five millions sterling. To this cause may be attributed the low prices which prevailed, during the middle ages, and the still lower prices of which we read before the re-opening of the mines of the Old World in the eighth century. And to the low state to which the existing siock was reduced may be attributed the great rise ia prices produced* during the 15th centuiy, by the addition of a new supply, which was small compared with those which in subsequent times produced comparatively little effect.

There is no error more prevalent than that of mistaking money lor wealth, and high prices for prosperity. The mass of commodities, of iraplsmeuts, and machinery, Constitute, -with other meaus of employing labour, the material wealth of a community. Money, or metallic wealth, is only the measure of the value of these commodities with respect to one another ; and its amount will always bear a very small proportion to the material wealth of every country. Value and price, too, are frequently confounded. The value of any thing is its power of purchasing other commodities. Its price is the quantity of money which il Trill purchase. A quarter of wheat will still exchange for two quarters oats or a quarter and a half of bailey, whether wheat sell for 40s. or 80s., oats for 20s. or 405., and barley for 30s. or 60s. In the simpler states of society commodities are exchanged directly for one another : all traffic is carried on by barter. As civilization advances, as wants are multiplied, as division ol labour increases, the necessity for some more convenient mode of exchange becames apparent. It is fouod inconvenient for the man who produces nothing but food to ascertain bow much of it he must give for clothes, to the man wbo produces nothing but clothing ; aod since even tailors sometimes take it into their hejds lo ride, it is equally troublesome for the tailor to calculate ; how many coats, waistcoats, and trousers he must give in exchange for a horse. Nor are those the only inconveniences of a barter trade. If the tailor was starving foi want of food, he could obtain none till he had found a man wanting to exchange it for clothes ; he would then be obliged in all probability to take more food then he could consume while it /eoiaiueu good, and must look out for a third party who would be willing to take the surplus oh" his hands in exchange for some articles which the tailor requires. The iuvenlion of money obviates these inconveniences. Oue commodity is exchanged for money ; which, again, is exchanged for iomething else. Pounds in England, dollars in America, and francs in France, furnish in each country respectively a measure of the value of different commodities with respect to one another— -a language in which that value may be expressed. The value expressed is its price. Gold and silver, from their rarity, and and consequent costliness — from their durability, portability, and divisibility, and from the demand which exists for them, even in a rude state of society for purposes of ornament — are, of all things, the best adapted for a medium of exchange. They have, therefore, by the tacit consent of all nations from the most remote antiquity, been preferred as money. One very important quality, which renders them suited to this purpose, consists in their being less likely than any other commodities to be affected by fluctuations in value arising from a sudden increase or diminution of their quantity. The only great and permanent change of this kind which they have undergone since the commencement of history is that which followed the discovery of America. After that event the precious metals became ao much more abundant that their value was lowered with respect to other commodities ; and it became necessary to give more of them iv exchange for a given quantity of any article of necessity or luxury. I» other words prices rose. Though prices rose, however, the value of commodities with respect to one another remained, with aome exceptions, unaltered. The same