Since the remarks concerning the Gold Reserve were written (chapter xiv.) much interest has been aroused in the matter by a suggestion made by Mr. J. Herbert Tritton, the President of the Institute of Bankers.
At the opening of the last session of the Institute (November, 1903) the President, in his inaugural address, after referring to many current and important topics, passed on to the subject of the visible gold reserves, and made the following novel suggestion. By Mr. Tritton’s courtesy his remarks on this matter are here reproduced in full.
“The ever-pressing question of this country’s visible reserves of gold, quiescent during the war, is again attracting attention. Theoretically, everyone would admit that larger reserves of gold in this country are desirable; many would go further and say necessary; but any, even the smallest, step in the direction of action is at once barred on the ground of expense. At whose cost is the reserve to be held? £15,000,000 at 3 per cent. is £450,000 a year, and this must almost inevitably come out of somebody’s pocket. Bank of England stockholders and ordinary bank shareholders would be mulcted, or would think they were, to the extent, say, of a second income tax of 1_s_. in the pound on their dividends. Of course, the question is, in its essence, of national importance, but the Treasury of this country never allows itself to be influenced by considerations of this character—nor, indeed, have the English people for the last fifty years expected either Government help or Government interference in their financial or commercial affairs. Pardon the interjection, but I, for one, say long may this country be not only self-reliant, but free; free to trade as each member of it shall choose, unshackled and uninfluenced by Government restrictions or Government encouragements! We may, perhaps, cherish a faint hope that the new Chancellor of the Exchequer may realise that he has taken with him from the Post Office, liabilities as a banker, £144,605,088 in respect of Post Office Savings Banks, and finds in his new office a further sum of £52,505,081 in respect of Trustee Savings Banks, making together £197,110,169, liable to be repaid in gold; and realising this as a banker, may be less obdurate than his predecessors. But it would not be wise to expect much from Downing Street: if the thing is to be done we must do it ourselves. That a solution of the question is supremely necessary I am convinced, however great the initial difficulties may be; and that it is not beyond attainment if the best energies and the best brains of the banking community be devoted to it, I am also persuaded. Mr. R. H. Inglis Palgrave gives in his new book, _Bank Rate and the Money Market_—a book which every banker should possess and read—page 104, the following table:—