ENGLAND'S DEBT TO AUSTRALASIA.

Taranaki Daily News, Volume LII, Issue 161, 2 August 1909, Page 2

ENGLAND'S DEBT TO AUSTRALASIA.

, x t , r ,c , r ly interesting article f . s i vdne >' Bulletin showg how "Au*lln 1 > »" 1 ™ r grent ® ltent made Engpiper says: For About forty jours, until the South African ftOld discoveries brought a new coniriImtor into the field, it was almost wholly • Austinlnsinn gold -which created that proud com, the British sovereign, and' , n i t "' V Australasian gold which nailed Britain to embark on that atapendous later career of money-leadin* at compound interest which made it the Bieat world-usurer of recent times. Ia \zl' t /ears before the commencement of Australasian gpld-production on a large scale, it was estimated, according to the eminent British statistician, Miilhnl], that the whole oi thft niinnnn ft °Tu ° f J 5 " 1 ' 1 consifit ed of £187,Km m Bhttl>c of TOi, > and £343.i)()0,000 uncoined (jewellery, plate, etc.)' total. '.€51)0,000,000. Tll»r»;lhfld beett a scarcity of new gold discoveries for' >'ome Centuries, and the world's stock »i the medium of exchange was pretty low. it was this unfortunate ftcaroit; Which caused the Bank of England to suspend payment for twenty-four years ()7f17 to 1821) nud flooded Britain with a depreciated paper currency. Since the (lute of -Mnlliull's figures Australasia I'll" supplied, mostly to Britain, more fluid thnn nil the world was estimated Jo possess before 'thin country came on Ihe scene. Then, having run short o£ cash through allowing its reI ""'"ices to he exploited wholesale by ' adventurers, Australasia sup|i led John Bull with nil investment for about 000,000,000 of his monev—most of it originally Australasian money, for until Australasia started producing gold .'1 '!" (1 " 1 v( '"' much actual gold to leud—in AnstidliisiuH public securities, oil which in the early days this country 1 ' ™"" ns mu< '' l #s ® "id 1 per cent. ni!ei-i';t. In „I 1 this gigantic series "t transactions not one penny Of interest or principal has ever "been in en-ear. wherefore Britain's luck in its < ilrigs with Australasia was very different from what it experienced when it lent to the Oovernments of Tiirke". Greece. Spain, Portugal, Guatemala and a dozen other foreign States. Tt wan a j - luck in its dealings with Austria, which iiuulu a memorable composition, jt W as better than in tlio case of Britain's dealings with Pram* r,Lt- r 'J I y" < " 1,,n , "' ttcr t,Wn t,l(¥ uek Britain hud with itself, seeing that the (list llriti'-h public debt was repudiated 111 the time of Charles TI. Nowadays Australasia's trade with Britain f« almost equal to Britain's trade -witlr the whole world twenty years before 1 . Australasian gold discoveries gave ■lolin Bull his memorable boost. In proportion to its poniilation, this country eu.vs more from Britain than anv other jouiiti v (ill earth, and it is (in'proportion to its poniilation) the mast notable niplKirt of the British manufacturer. All of wlucli tilings make up a fairly I'ood record. J