OUTPUT OF GOLD.

Taranaki Daily News, 11 January 1917, Page 3

OUTPUT OF GOLD.

1015 YIELD BIGGEST ON RECORD Interesting facts relative to the nrodr.dion and flow of gold,'s:iy = an Amerieoi. paper, are embodied in a statement of the foreign tjade department of the .Vationa! City Bank of New 'York, which finis from an examination of official statistics that the total output for 1015 I was the biggest on record, and also that [the combined value of.gold and silver produced also exceeds that of any earner year. A furthei striking fact is the increase of gold production in the United States, which set a new record by pass;ng the 100,000,000 dollar ( £20,000,0001 line last year and became the second largest gold producer in the world, having passed Australia, leaving only South Africa in the lead. In rsspect to the production of silver, the United States now leads the list, having passed Mexico. The commercial value of silver produced in the United States last year was only 37,307,300 dollars, against 57.OKO.OOO dollars in ISOI, the record-break-ing year for silver. This fact is the mere marked because the value of silver per ounce has undergone a pronounced increase during the inteivening time, old production, both here and abroad, has made very rapid growth. In the. twenty-five years since ISfiO more gold has been produced than m the 400 years preceding. Prior to that year the world's production had seldom exceeded 125,000,000 dollars a- year, but in IS9G it mounted to 202,000,000 dollars, in 1003 to 327,000,000 dollars .in 1000 to 402,000,000 dollars, and in 1014 to 4J6,000,000 dollars. The yet higher production of 1915, not as yet accurately computed, comes by reason of the heavy output of United States mines and unusual activity in the mines of South Africa.

More striking in a way than any of these records is that established in respect to gold imports to this country for the fiscal year just ended. The net imports for the. year, meaning the excess of imports over exports, approximately is 300,000,000 dollars, against the former high record of 105,000,000 dollars. Students of economics and finance will find much food fer study and debate in these figures, says the. "Springfield Republican." In re'ation to. the high cost of living, especially, they tell an interesting story. How long its gold production to continue mounting upward, and what is the answer to the problems connoted by this increase?