Ma, Cuinpers delivered the inaugural Adarose, for the Session, to the Edinburgh Inetitate of Bankers early Inst month, when be dealt with the effect of the appreciation of gold on prices, and pointed out what be considered a fallacy in the well known "index numbers" by which the values of certain commodities in years before ud years after the depreciation of fare estimated. He gave it as his opinion that we must look for some cause to explain the fall in prices measured by gold, besides, and of greater account than the depreciation of silver, The total fall in five years, 1864 to 1870, was 20 per con! which was a heavier rate of fall than in any five years since the depreciation of silver, The "index number" fell from 2,484 in 1865 to 1,970 in 1869 9 1870, about the same dox number " as that for 1880 when r bad fallen to 52d.an ounce. The Gigures for France are similar. In opinion therefore the fall in prices w due to the maintenance of peace in Europe since 1870, a view that is not origitial—but has been kept out of sight by hi-metailiste,—-as itis totheavoidance of ware that political economists look for the cheapening of all necessaries and Inzuries. Among modern instances which support this opinion are the steady decline from the peace of 1815 down to 1848, European revelations in the Jatter year arrested that movement, and the Crimean war and the Tudian mutiny turned the tide the other way. But whau affairs in India we: re-established prices again fell for two years, till the outbreak of the civil war in Amerios Prices reached their maximum, during that period, in 1864 when the war was near a close, and they fell continuously for five or six years, with the exception of 1866, when there was war between Aastria and Prussia, until the Franco-Gem again raised them, Passing from that part of his subject to another, Inv, Childers gave it as his opinion that Parliament will be unable to settle anything about our metallic currency, that is, whether we shall have ugly or a double standard, without taking into recount other cognate ques. tious, sach as, firstly, the note currents of the United Kingdom—which ise, in Glndstonian phrase calls the three parts of the United Kingdom—seonndly, the maintenance of (he coinage in " sutislow, and thirdly, an inter-anal coinage. The two first ques.
9 wre bound up with that of a single double standard, avd he asks if the minimum of Englich bank notes should maintained at £5, There seems to be © consensus of opinion in England that a return to the issue of one pound tes would not only be perfectly ante but. ig desirable as a convenience and a wns of economizing gold, and that, when the question of the repair of the currency comes up for settlement onoof these days thie point should be dvGuitely dante When Parliament ie deuling with those measures Unt are expected to apting from the Report of the Currenes Com. mission, Mr, Childers think" that it will be asked whether some endeavour abound not be made to bring our mo-notary system into couforn with that of other great commercial nations, France, Belgium, Italy, Switzerland and Greece—that is, the nations oomprizing the Latinj Union—have one curr 20 frano or 5 frano coin is in Franco or Belgium, If metalliom should be adopted by us, Mr. Childers asked, us well as by France and the United States, and by Germany, why should we not form u still wider Union than the Latin Union The disturbance, he save, would not be very great. A sovereign is only worth about 2d, more than 25 france, about 4d. more than a 20-mark piece, about 6d. less than a 5-dollars gold piece. Ho gave no opinion us to the feasibility or otherwise of this almost universal Carreney Union, but it may be inferred from his asking the above question that he favours it and sees no surmountable difficulties in the way of its execution. Perhaps the real difficulty will be in the expense of converting the different coinages of Europe and America into a coinage, that would be current in Europe and Americe, and as a matter of fact all over the world.
Supposing there is only the expense of a general reovinage in the was, the cost should not deter great nations, as the simplification of intornationnl business which would ensue would repay at least the moronutile olasees for whistever part of the outlay they bad to bear. But when we see success sive Chancellors of the Exchequer fighting shy of proposing that the taxpayers should pay for the rehabilitation of the gold currency, we cannot be sapguiue that ten or @ dozen: similar our And every ndditional year of extravagant. expenditare on "bloated armaments," will make such an undertaking more difficult to all nations, except the United States, to whom nnd to whose consinntly ex. panding resources nny expenditure on the army and wavy which they are likely to incur, will be, in Disrnelian plirnse, a mere flenbite.
Text read from the printed page and cleaned; old type leaves the occasional error.