The Supply of Coin.

Taranaki Daily News, Volume XLVI, Issue 167, 19 July 1904, Page 4

The Supply of Coin.

Few people outside the banking fraternity have any idea of the leakage that is constantly in progress in the current coin of the realm iu circulation, and of the large supplies that are constantly being imported by the hanks to replace this- leakage and to maintain a reasonable stock for the use of their customers. A study of the import and export returns of tho colony, however, help to arrive at an idea of the measure of this leakage, as will be seen by the following figures, which show the values of tho imports and exports of specie for the last live years r. — Year ending 3J st Dec. Imports. Exports. £ £ 1899 ... 125,977 14,913 1900 ... -188,770 22,908 1901 ... 41)1,199 11,014 1902 ... 308,085 9,r>ia 1903 ... 712,716 38,452 Total for five years ... 2,110,047 97,400 The excess of imports over exports in this period thus amounts to no less th a n £2,013,247, or an average of more than £400,000 per annum. The next (Juestion is to what extent the stocks of coin held by the banks have been increased by this heavy'importation. Turning then to the bank returns we iind that the aggregate holding of coin, which at the 31st December, 1898, stood at £2,625,896, had risen by the 31st December, 1903, to £3,597,280, an incroaso of £971,382. This leaves a sum of £1,041,803 as the approximate measure of the leakage to be accounted for, or more than £200,000 per annum. Various channels of leakage are known to exist. It is known that 'goldsmiths and dentists use up the coin of tho realm for the purposes of trade and art to a considerable amount. Colonists visiting the Old Country and other lands generally c a rry with them a supply of British sovereigns, as a vade mccum useful in any pai't of the world. They usually land in the colony on their return from their travels with' pockets depleted. Another class that carries money out of the colony is the Chinese. Commercial travellers also not infrequently lake the risk of carrying considerable, sums across theTasman Sea, to avoid bank exchange, and colonists leaving New Zealand to settle elsewhere often take their modest capital with them in coin. Yet another source of leakage is through the bouts of the San I-'ran-isco service, each of which takes with it the balance of its earnings in the colony in English sovereigns, which are always at a premium in the United Stales. No doubt there are other minor channels of leakage to which we have not a'luded, but we think we have enumerated the chief causes of the drain that is always going o<n and to meet which the banks have to he constantly bringing in fresh supplies of the liKiilium of exchange.— New Zealand Times.