122 Transactions. — Miscellaneous. 



Since 1896, however, a change has taken place through 

 the depreciation of gold that then set in, though from the 

 unbroken succession of annual additions the nominal value of 

 the debt has necessarily been continually increasing. The 

 general exchange value fell in 1897, and, though it rose 

 again in 1898, it has fallen rapidly since that year. Thus, 

 apart from the distribution of the burden of the debt over a 

 greater population, the total burden of the debt has actually 

 diminished since 1896 in spite of further borrowings. 



Further remarks on these topics will be made in a paper 

 on "The Flood of Gold."* 



Aet. IX.— The Flood of Gold. 



By H. W. Segak, Professor of Mathematics, University 



College, Auckland. 



[Read before the Auckland Institute, 18th August, 1902.'] 



Plate XV. 



At different times different influences affecting matters of 

 public concern become of more than usual importance. At 

 the present time the extraordinary increase in the annual 

 output of gold that has taken place in recent years forms a 

 most conspicuous feature in the economic conditions of the 

 time. It follows that a knowledge of the economic bearing of 

 the gold-production of the world is more than usually essen- 

 tial to the proper understanding of economic changes. 



To give some account of this is the main object of the 

 following paper, which simply describes some well-known 

 principles of that branch of economic science which deals 

 with the theory of value and currency. As there is not time 

 to reason out the theory in this, one of the more advanced 

 departments of political economy, I shall largely depend on 

 authorities, and shall frequently quote passages from standard 

 writers, accepting their dictum in lieu of more extensive 



argument. 



Variations in General Prices. 

 We are all aware that prices fluctuate ; but it is astonish- 

 ing how many have an idea that, excepting comparatively 

 slight fluctuations due to the state of the market, the price of 

 an article is almost on a par with its fundament properties of 

 colour, texture, density, &c. Now, a very few references to 

 prices at different periods should easily dispel this illusion. 



* See next article. 



