FINANCIAL NOTE
PANAMA GOLD DISCOVERIES.
It is early times to attempt to discuss the merits of the reported gold discoveries in Panama. Indeed, at the moment the ordinary public is a little doubtful as to whether the pro- minence given to the matter by certain of the newspapers during Easter-time must be attributed to the value of the dis- coveries or to the dearth of ordinary news during the holidays. Nevertheless, the question of fresh gold discoveries, whether in Panama or in any other 'part of the world; must be a matter of great interest not merely to speculators but to financial and _commercial centres all over the -world. At the present moment the return of Britain and some other countries to the Gold Standard and free gold markets would seem to .involve the need for a good deal of economy in the use of gold both internally and internationally, especially with so large a proportion of the world's gold resources centred in the United States, where the favourable state of the American exchange makes much of such gold holding almost a superfluity. Inter- nally, we know that the use of gold as a currency is thought to be an unnecessary extravagance, though I cannot help thinking that by all the rules of logic, adherents to the Gold Standard should press for gold currency—in other words, for the complete convertibility of paper—as soon as may be possible. Having regard, however, on the one hand, to the limited supplies of gold and, on the other hand, to the great expansion in credit and prices, it is evident that if unduly high interest rates are to be averted there will have to be much co-operation between financial centres all over the world as regards international gold movements, thereby insuring economy in the use and the movements of the metal. If, how- ever, supplies of gold were to be materially increased by fresh discoveries, the whole economic situation might be very
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