RUSSIA'S GOLD.

Pukekohe & Waiuku Times, Volume 5, Issue 138, 28 January 1916, Page 4 (Supplement)

RUSSIA'S GOLD.

The largest hoard of gold in the world is that held in the vaults of the Russian State bank, amounting now to about £170.000,000. ! Ordinarily a visitor maj travel from one end of the Russian Empire to tho j other and not seen enough geld coin to buy a pair of shoes. Paper currency is sued universally. The cheque system, as it prevails in the United States and | England, is practically unknown in Russia. I

Although the larger cities have many fine banks, the provincial business man distrusts banks, and there are hundreds of thousands of prosperous Russians who have neier had a banking account in their lives. Their working capital is represented bypaper currency of big denomination which they carry in a leather bag suspended around their neck. In Russia the v : sitor may meet shaggy men whose dress and appearance suggest the artisan class, who are carrying with them constantly from five'to ten thousand pounds in currency.