THE AUSTRALIAN CRISIS.
- For the information of those who may wonder what is the conhexion between Australian gold shipments and the crisis through which that country is now passing, it may, perhaps, be explained quite briefly that in its essence the crisis consists of Australia having imported manufactured and other goods too freely and having suffered a restriction of her exports through unduly high costs of production. In addition, how- ever, Australia has also suffered misfortune through serious droughts and a heavy fall in prices of wool and other of her main exportable commodities. These conditions, of course, have, in their turn, led to the exchange moving adversely to Australia and great difficulty has been experienced by Australian merchants and others in obtaining the necessary sterling balances to meet their engagements in London. Accordingly, an Act was recently passed in Australia whereby the gold holdings of ..the joint stock banks haire now to be concentrated in the vaults, of the Commonwealth Bank of Australia, the entire central fund being thus the more readily available for shipments at the discretion of the Commonwealth Government for the purpose of dealing with the exchange difficulty. There is reason, however, to believe that Australia is sufficiently alive to the situation to curtail severely her imports, and as the exporting season proceeds it may be hoped that the situation will be eased.
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