Since the remarks concerning the Gold Reserve were written (chapter xiv.) much interest has been aroused in the matter by a suggestion made by Mr. J. Herbert Tritton, the President of the Institute of Bankers.

At the opening of the last session of the Institute (November, 1903) the President, in his inaugural address, after referring to many current and important topics, passed on to the subject of the visible gold reserves, and made the following novel suggestion. By Mr. Tritton’s courtesy his remarks on this matter are here reproduced in full.

“Visible Gold Reserves

“The ever-pressing question of this country’s visible reserves of gold, quiescent during the war, is again attracting attention. Theoretically, everyone would admit that larger reserves of gold in this country are desirable; many would go further and say necessary; but any, even the smallest, step in the direction of action is at once barred on the ground of expense. At whose cost is the reserve to be held? £15,000,000 at 3 per cent. is £450,000 a year, and this must almost inevitably come out of somebody’s pocket. Bank of England stockholders and ordinary bank shareholders would be mulcted, or would think they were, to the extent, say, of a second income tax of 1s. in the pound on their dividends. Of course, the question is, in its essence, of national importance, but the Treasury of this country never allows itself to be influenced by considerations of this character—nor, indeed, have the English people for the last fifty years expected either Government help or Government interference in their financial or commercial affairs. Pardon the interjection, but I, for one, say long may this country be not only self-reliant, but free; free to trade as each member of it shall choose, unshackled and uninfluenced by Government restrictions or Government encouragements! We may, perhaps, cherish a faint hope that the new Chancellor of the Exchequer may realise that he has taken with him from the Post Office, liabilities as a banker, £144,605,088 in respect of Post Office Savings Banks, and finds in his new office a further sum of £52,505,081 in respect of Trustee Savings Banks, making together £197,110,169, liable to be repaid in gold; and realising this as a banker, may be less obdurate than his predecessors. But it would not be wise to expect much from Downing Street: if the thing is to be done we must do it ourselves. That a solution of the question is supremely necessary I am convinced, however great the initial difficulties may be; and that it is not beyond attainment if the best energies and the best brains of the banking community be devoted to it, I am also persuaded. Mr. R. H. Inglis Palgrave gives in his new book, Bank Rate and the Money Market—a book which every banker should possess and read—page 104, the following table:—

“The Bank of England reserve, which constitutes the only real reserve of the country, is shown here in its true light from our present point of view. A further outside reserve of, say, £15,000,000 would only, it is true, serve to restore the proportion to that of the year 1896, but it would ensure the present maximum becoming, in effect, the future minimum, and here would be a great gain in an extra sense of security in troublous times. Should a gold panic at any time seize upon the public, it would matter little whether the ratio of Bank of England reserve to the aggregate liabilities were 2·50 or 5 per cent., suspension of cash payments would ensue. A credit panic, as distinguished from a gold panic, can usually be assuaged by a suspension of the Bank Act and an overissue of bank-notes. A further object of an increased gold reserve is that not only the periodic and well-recognised, but the unexpected and perhaps heavy withdrawals of gold may be met without recourse to violent measures such as those to which the market is too often subjected. If this were clearly seen to be not only the intention, but the practical working of the fund, an objection which, I admit, is of great weight would be fairly met, and minor objections would almost disappear.

“The objection to which I refer is this. Gold is meant to circulate, not to be hoarded, and any proposal permanently to withdraw such an amount as £15,000,000 from circulation and, as it were, entomb it again in the bowels of the earth, stands self-condemned. No such entombment is suggested, as far as I know, but the formation of a fund for use—a fund which, on occasions, would pass into circulation—international, if not national—and would have a steadying effect on the pulse of the Empire, the Bank of England rate. How can we set about securing it? Let us glance at the tabulated bank balance sheets of the country. From which of the items on the assets side could such a sum be withdrawn? Loans and discounts? No. Investments? No. Buildings? No. Money at call? No. Cash in hand and at Bank of England? This, ex hypothesi, is the item to be increased. The reasons I need not give, but it appears tolerably plain that no plan involving a permanent diminution of any item on the asset side would meet with a favourable reception from practical men. Is it possible, if these items cannot be conveniently decreased, to obtain the amount by a fresh creation of credit, an addition to loans and discounts, and an equivalent addition to the other side of the account? Please understand that I am considering the case quite apart from the Bank of England.

“Here I am directly and once again challenging critics, who do not agree in my view of the non-elasticity of the Money Market, to show how, in their view, the alleged elasticity of the market may be utilised to produce a fund of £15,000,000. My contention is that only by the increase of the note issue or by increase of capital can it be reached. Suppose the bankers were authorised to issue £15,000,000 of £1 bank-notes. How could these be kept in circulation unless they were legal tender? Of what use would they be if they took the place of gold in our tills? This plan, under which alone could credit be created, would be futile to attain our end. There remains only the creation of new capital, unless our friends, whom I am challenging, and to whom we are looking to give us a discussion which cannot fail to be interesting under the auspices of Mr. A. C. Cole, who has undertaken to read a paper on ‘Notes on the London Money Market,’ can show us some adequate alternative. If each bank of the kingdom increased its paid-up capital 20 per cent. by an issue of a Three per cent. Preference Gold Stock, the fund could be attained. The proceeds should be devoted in each individual case to the acquisition of a corresponding amount of gold, in addition to present holdings, and this gold should be deposited at the Bank of England, but not merged in the Bank figures, so as to stand week by week intact, and shown under a separate heading in one aggregate, though, of course, the absolute property of each bank in detail. Carefully thought out arrangements whereby, under a joint committee of the bankers and the Bank of England, whenever occasion arises, a percentage of each holding should be transferable to the credit of each bank in the books of the Bank of England should be made, the gold thus forming an addition to their reserve until again withdrawn and added to the Bankers’ Gold Fund.”

Needless to say, this suggestion, coming from such an authority, caused much comment in monetary circles, and was generally received as a valuable contribution to the various schemes having for an end the settlement of this important matter.

In certain quarters, however, the scheme was held to be an impracticable one; and at a subsequent meeting of the Institute of Bankers, Mr. Cole, a director of the Bank of England, spoke as follows:—

These remarks caused some discussion, during which it was pointed out that under Mr. Tritton’s proposal the banks would collectively form a gold fund of £15,000,000, at a cost to themselves of £450,000. Under Mr. Cole’s proposal, however, for the banks to increase their balances at the Bank of England by the sum of £15,000,000, the extra gold held in the country would only be increased by the sum of £6,750,000 (according to the proportion of the reserve held to public liabilities, which has been 45 per cent. on an average for the last twenty years), while the Bank would make a considerable profit from the remainder of the increased balances—a profit earned entirely at the expense of the banks.

It was also pointed out that the requisite gold could be acquired by offering a slightly higher price for it, thus retaining imports of the metal which would otherwise be bought up by exporters. Finally, it was stated by one speaker of eminence in the banking world, that in his opinion the matter was not one for the banks to deal with alone, the additional gold not being required for the sole benefit of the banks, but for the security of the community at large.

The matter here rests for the present, but when it has to be settled, as doubtless it must at some time, the ideas and suggestions contained in these discussions will probably become of importance.