Page:The Bank of England and the State, 1905.djvu/64

 when this state of affairs comes to an end, as it must before so very long, a new stimulus will be given to trade, and the Blue Book just published, containing Mr. Birchenough's Report on the Prospects of British Trade in South Africa, affords ample proof of the possibilities and opportunities for such trade, if only we know how to avail ourselves of them.

This short history will, I hope, to some extent account for the variations in our trade, and give the reasons why our export trade of late has not been so expansive; and I hope I have proved that we are the financial centre of the world because we are the centre of its commerce, though it is impossible to enumerate the great variety of commodities to which this term applies, nor is there time to refer in detail to our great entrepot trade; the last column in the table on page 11, which refers only to goods transhipped in bond shows how this has grown, a trade which is entirely due to our open ports and absence of restrictions; for not only the actual duties that are payable but also all the formalities and delays connected with Custom Houses are instrumental in turning trade away. I hope I have further shown that imports, far from taking away employment, are the means of providing employment for large numbers, and that the fewer the restrictions, the larger our general commerce, and the greater our prosperity must be.

Before leaving this part of the subject, I must briefly refer to one intimately connected with it, viz., the sudden demands on our small gold reserves, which our enormous trade may bring about, a point to which, as you are aware, I have been constantly calling attention for a number of years, beginning at a time when the reserve at the Bank of England was nearly twice as large as it is now. It seems to me almost an absurd position that the export of a comparatively small amount of gold, say £500,000, should put our whole money market into a tremor. We ought to be able to spare at least £5,000,000 without influencing money rates very much. To go more fully into this question would be outside