Gold futures
Sir: Mr Stahl's views on gold expressed in your issue of November 9 exhibit, to my mind, an unawareness of human nature in that, this time, not Germany alone, as after the 1914-18 war, but the whole world will be so disillusioned with paper money they will want solid assets and gold is the most convenient.
Hoarding is surely not confined to the United States where figures are kept but an insatiable demand buries unknown quantities in the Middle East and India.
Contrary to what Mr Stahl writes, Johnannesburg Chamber of Mines affirms industrial consumption is more than the Rand output.
Quoting practical experience I bought West Driefontein in 1970 at 1544 and they now stand at 5650, an appreciation of 300 per cent in four years. Other mines have behaved in a similar or less degree but all upward.
I am sceptical about New York replacing London as the gold market any more than it has the world money market. , Finally, 121/2 per cent compound interest cannot last if world trade is to continue and must be a temporary phenomenon.
R. Y. Armstrong 4 Livingstone Road, Umtali, Rhodesia
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