WAR NOTES.

Taranaki Daily News, 2 October 1915, Page 8

WAR NOTES.

FRANCE'S GREAT GOLD RESOURCES In the course of a conversation that the Paris representative of a London paper had with one of the high officials of the Bank of France a few weeks ago, the correspondent learnt some interesting particulars concerning the results of the public request for gold by the Finance Minister. The reserve of gold will be able to sustain French credit until the end of the war without serious difficulty, notwithstanding the considerable payments effected aibroad for munitions, foodstuffs, machinery, coal, and other manufactured goods and raw materials. The reserve of gold at the ibank is now nearly £ W0,000,000, notwithstanding these heavy payments to foreign exporters, and the loan of £2O/000,000 in gold to Great Britain. Gold was flowing into the 'bank from the public very freely, and at the bank it is believed that the figure for the whole of France will considerably exceed the sum of £4,000,000 for the first three weeks. The toWn of Nancy alone gave £IOO,OOO in a few days. "It may he difficult," said the informant, "to induce some people to part with their gold hoards, especially peasants in remote districts, but if the pub> lie brings a milliard francs 1,£40,000,000), that means credit in the form of fiduciary to three times that sum. Hence the £40,000,000 added to the £150,000,000 in gold, means the accepta4ion of French paper money at it 3 face value to the tune of £600,000,000, with-, out counting the remaining gold in the' country that will surely come in gradually to cover the outgoings. In regard to Russia, the gold reserve at the Imperial Bank is not far short of £lbu,000,000, and Russia has great stores of wheat ready to sell for gold. The Russians are in no need for money now; they want munitions of war. As fax as France is concerned, we, who surely know who keep the French purse, can state that this country can well fight out the war financially to the end." AMERICA'S ENVIABLE TRADE. It is stated that American bankers will be astonished at the volume of the metal the Allies can afford to export, and we can well believe this. The gold reserves of Russia and France are enor* mous, and these two countries alone hold between them about £300,000,000, which, of course, is the basis of then note circulation. In theses extraordinary times the Governments are not likely to stand on ceremony, and it is quits witihin the bounds of possibility that France and Russia will furnish £IOO,000,000 in gold to be shipped to America to steady the exchanges. The Bank of England will probably have to do something also in this respect, so that wjth the credits thus established the American position should recover. The position as regards America is an enviable one. She Is, to use a colloquial expression, simply coining money. American manufacturers are furnishing the Allies with artillery, machine guns, rifles, bayonets, ammunition of all kinds, aeroplanes, various seacraft, motor transport, equipment for soldiers, harness for horses, besides large quantities of foodstuffs, and in the aggregate are receiving millions sterling. The conditions make foT a boom, and presently we shall see great activity in Wall street with a rapid and pronounced rise in stocks, bonds and shares. British investors hold over £2,000,000,000 of American securities, chiefly railroad bonds, and if the prices of these rise to an attractive level, British investors will certainly unload large stocks in New York, which would materially affect the rate of exchange and probably lead to a return of the gold that is now being shipped to New York. Another factor to be taken into consideration is the fact that the Allies are developing their own resources, and will therefore be less and less dependent upon the United States for munitions. The position, we have self.