Show BRITISH financiers ARE HEDGING ON SCHEME TO FORCE GOLD ON INDIA evidence that the importance of the indian banking commission commission report in relation to th the future of silver has been exaggerated begins to accumulate according to recent comment the prices of both the metal and of silver stocks are making an encouraging recovery equally significant is the opinion emanating from london the british financial capital only recently the london financial news stated that it did not believe that a paper currency can be substituted for the silver currency to which the people of india have been so long iong accustomed but if accomplished such substitution will be a very slow process during which increasing currency require requirements ments will be likely to neutralize in whole or in in part the effects of whatever substitution occurs the national city bank financial bulletin for november states that while the commissions recommendations have been an element of weakness the principal cause has been sales of silver from china trade conditions in china are seriously affected by the civil war stocks of silver have accumulated at ports and in the absence of demand from the interior exports have been made to london it is extraordinary to have silver exports from asia and the movement is especially depressing in view of the bearish feeling developed by the indian report commission member speaks even more reassuring sentiment comes from the rt hon E hilton young editor of the london financial times who served as chairman of the late royal commission on indian currency and finance in a recent editorial according to the national city bank bulletin mr young states that chaj certain misconceptions prevail concerning the recommendation men dation relative to silver he points out that the stoppage in coinage of silver in india does not result from any recommendation of the commission the government of india had 90 chores of surplus rupees when the commission commiss ion i was constituted the stoppage is the result of the vast su supplies p of silver rupees that had to be put into circulation during the war the rupee he says is and is to remain the only metallic currency for generations to come it may be expected to be required not only as small change but as a a principal medium of exchange mr young charges the misconception on this score to the slightly ambiguous wording ing of the report where it stated that the rupees in circulation be reduced to the amount required for small change absorption predicted the second misapprehension cited by mr young relates to paragraph 80 of the report relating to the gradual reduction of the silver hol holding dingAn in the reserve during a transitional period of ten years from the present figure of Rs 85 chores to Rs 25 chores on the basis of the present circulation A is equivalent to ten millions so that the reduction from 85 chores to 25 chores would amount to approximately rupees estimating fine qunce ounce of silver to the rupee this would mean the release of approximately ounces of silver on the world market from this single source W chairman youngs comment on this provision is that the recommendations provide for the avoidance of any such sale by the absorption of surplus silver into circulation in the normal course of expansion of trade this is taken to mean that if in the course of ten years the surplus reserves of silver above 25 chores or rupees have been absorbed into circulation by the growing volume of business there will be no silver for sale according to chairman young this i is the expectation of the corn com mission sales may be unnecessary the national city bank bulletin bui letin closes its article by ob serving that it is clearly true that the indian governments present reserves of silver are unnecessarily large they must be regarded as resulting from the extraordinary exta ordinary purchases of the government under the pittman act with the lower level of prices now prevailing less currency is needed in in circulation and it accumulates in the reserves unless there was a prospect of its into circulation within a reasonable time the government would naturally want to dispose of it but it may be legai regarded ll 11 ded as quite probable that no sales will ever be necessary reports of the united states bureau of commerce furnish unmistakable proof that the silver question is international rather than just national in india uncertainty regarding b the future course of silver and the outcome of the c currency commission commission s report are adding to the normal depression of the holiday season silver and nitrate shares have dropped in chile because of adverse conditions in consuming markets the mexican mining industry is finding difficulty in weathering the depression in in silver mining companies have petitioned the government for a reduction in taxes and changes in the mining law dispatches from the southern republic of last week stated that a tax concession concessi 0 n had been granted to the mining industry schemers Sch emelis losing in popularity business conditions in shanghai china show very little improvement regardless of increased exports resulting from rom the lowest silver exchange rate that has prevailed dur ing the last ten years in honduras the declining price of silver has weakened the local exchange the government now demanding 65 pe recent of customs duties paid in gold compared with the normal rate of 50 per oer cent this is causing difficulties in amapala amapola where gold is not available scarcity of gold in peru and an increased issue of notes has been an important factor in the depreciation of the peruvian pound from its par value of 4 86 to a mark at belo below aw sa from austria comes the word that the government 1 will continue its minting of the L levantine ev antine thaler having a silver content the same as the american dollar during the years of its existence the austrian mint has WM turned out a total of thaders th alers during 1925 W were coined which was over three times the rate for 1924 ay iy and nearly ten times the total for the three preceding years when but were minted present output of thaders is averaging coins coln a month or at the rate of 14 annually ja this 3 is ls the equivalent of 4 23 2 3 per cent of the world production Dro for fo r 1 1925 the in the face of the hedging concerning the report pa of indian committee of banking and finance by its chairman chain the effect recorded in world markets as a result of we the drop in the price of the metal the continuance of coinage require the ments by austria the need for silver to bolster up tip ad worlds oversupply of paper currency and the meta Is gt nt vance recently to a new high of 54 ya cents it is is app apparel that better times a are re ahead for the metal and that a asi aaion which a month ago seemed black possesses many nia j pacts inclining one toward optimism |