24 MARCH 1923, Page 20

Mr. Huskinson attributes the present agricultural - discon- tents to the

lack of a free market for gold. No one with any

knowledge of agricultural economics will agree that depres- sion is solely due to inequalities of exchange, but it is obvious that such disturbance must adversely affect farming. Whether the free gold market Mr. Huskinson advocates would remedy this is another matter - but there appears to be a general consensus of opinion that the Bank Act of 1844 is ripe for revision, in the interests of both finance and trade. One would feel happier, however, if convinced that these interests were always identical.