TRANSACTIONS OF SECTION F. 625 
Shuckburgh’s table was shown by Arthur Young to be grossly exaggerated. 
Qne pound under Charles II. was equal to thirty shillings of George III., or forty- 
seven and a half shillings at present. According to this scale, the nominal and 
effective wealth of the nation may be measured thus :— 
Sa se a 
Wealth 
Date : 
Nominal Effective aie t 
£ £ £ 
1660 250,000,000 595,000,000 109 
1703 490,000,000 985,000,000 157 
1774 1,100,000,000 1,654,000,000 205 
1800 1,740,000,000 2,620,000,000 249 
1812 2,190,000,000 3,080,000,000 Fa 
1840 4,030,000,000 5,070,000,000 188 
1860 5,560,000,000 5,280,000,000 182 
1882 8,720,000,000 8,720,000,000 249 
a 
Deduction of 5 per cent. from nominal wealth in 1860, because prices of forty- 
four principal articles show that decline, viz., from 4,400 to 4,191. 
4. Diffusion of wealth since 1840 has been four times greater than increase of 
opulation, as shown by carriage licences, probate returns, savings banks, &c. Pro- 
fate returns show 17 per cent. of population were above want in 1840, and 31 per 
cent. in 1877. Food consumption per head much increased. 
3. Gold versus Goods. By Joun B. Marriy, F.S.S. 
Starting from the proposition that the term ‘ appreciation ’ or ‘ depreciation’ of 
gold sounds unfamiliar to us, because we are constantly in the habit of speaking 
of goods in terms of gold, and forgetting that money is merely a commodity of 
certified quality, and all transactions merely barter, this paper went on to show 
that gold is constantly varying in value relatively to any given article, and conse- 
quently to articles in general. If, as we say, bread is down, but meat is up, and 
we consume equal value of each, then so far the value of gold would be unchanged. 
The object of the inquiry is whether on the whole prices have risen or fallen, that 
is, whether an income of fixed amount will ‘ go farther’ to-day than it did formerly. 
Of the causes that most directly affect the demand and supply of gold, the fall or 
rise in prices, are—(1) an increase or falling off of production of gold, the gold- 
using population remaining the same; (2) an merease or decrease in population, 
the gold production remaining the same; (3) an adoption of a gold standard, or 
discontinuance of the use of silver, by countries formerly using one or the other 
metal only; (4) war or peace, dearth or plenty, free trade or tariffs were minor 
causes affecting the demand for gold. The effects of these causes are simply a 
rise or fall in the exchangeable value of gold, but it is far from easy to say whether 
as a whole the exchangeable value of gold has of recent years permanently varied. 
Starting under conditions favourable to good and sound trade, the tendency must 
be for supply to overtake demand, unless the producer can find new markets, or 
stimulate demand by cheaper production, and consequently lower prices; the 
same causes are operating on the producer of so-called raw material, of which a 
very large portion of the cost is the cost of labour in producing it. Mr. Atkinson 
of Boston estimated that of the whole price of the entire manufactures of Mas- 
sachusetts, 90 per cent. was to be put down for cost of labour, 5 per cent. for main- 
tenance of capital, and 5 per cent. for profit; any cost in the price of labour or of 
interest on capital must at once trench seriously on net profit. The rate of 
interest undoubtedly affected production, but a comparison of the bank-rate with 
the index-number for a series of years showed that prices could hardly be said to 
follow the rate of interest. Referring to previous inquiries into the same subject, 
1883. $s 
