2 OCTOBER 1886, Page 3

Next to the withdrawal of small gold from European coinage,

the best suggestion we have seen for saving gold and increasing the utility of silver is to tax the import of gold into India. Its principal use there is for hoarding, gold not being currency ; but the demand is occasionally great, once rising to £11,000,000 in a single year, and the average is at least three millions, all deducted from the small surplus of gold now left after imperative wants have been supplied. If the gold were taxed, it would not be imported, to the increase of the European supply and the revival of the full Indian demand for silver to hoard. There is no native prejudice to offend, and the only question is whether the Australian trade with India would seriously suffer.