Fellow-Countrymen and Women,—

I purpose appealing to you on a subject which should be—but unfortunately is not—dearer to you than any other whatever. Although it is the one subject which involves the whole question of our happiness or misery on this Earth, we are too apt to give it other than a passing thought. That subject is the Gold system, the system which includes the standard medium of exchange, destroying Silver. Think of the power which we have been compelled to give to this Gold sytem: Gold, a word of but four letters. Yet exclusive of our beloved word, God, is there any other word in our language of such tremendous import to our human race as the word Gold? The terms father, mother, sister, brother, terms which make for the humaneness of humanity, are weak compared with the terrible, cruel, bloodthirsty, vindictive, lecherous, ambitious, destructive and lying force which the unholy term Gold comprises and comprehends.

I ask you to consider seriously and to decide as to whether we are to continue to allow the malignant influence of the Gold system to develop without check? To develop and spread its noxious influence like a foul leperous cancer which seizes in its deadly grip out most beloved ones, a darling child, a strong bread-winner, a comely maiden. So it is that under a system which creates unequal distribution of wealth, an old couple who should—by the common law of love and humanity—expect to end their days peacefully in the arms of their family, are hurried off to an almshouse to linger on without solace, and finally sink into paupers' graves. What horror is here! What wreck of family ties! What a wrench from all those and those only who are dearest to us! And why is this? It is because of the power of the Gold system and its unequal distribution; a system which fills the coffers of some few and privileged, at the same time denying to millions of us even a bare glimpse of it. Once again I ask of you: Are we to continue to allow this sordid and cruel influence to dominate and control our every act and every hour of our earthly existence? Surely not; perish the thought; we have the power to control it did we but use that power. Let us then declare that man, who bears upon his noble brow the" impress of his Divine Creator, will no longer sit quietly under the shadow of this Golden Calf; that he will rise In his outraged might and put an effective curb upon this wretched and misery-creating Gold system; and that he will bring in once more its kindlier and ancient partner. Silver, as the recognised and legal standard of exchange.

The more striking facts about Gold and Capitalism are well known to all. The capitalists claim that Gold must rule the world by ruling in the matter of value all other precious metals, and with this the comfort and happiness of our people. It is therefore quite clear that whilst this Gold system is allowed to continue a man who can control its operations can rule a Nation of people. The mighty capitalists of the world, they who in their generations have amassed Gold, are in a position to dictate to God's inheritors of this earth as page 2 to how we are to live, as to what wages we shall be allowed to earn, at what age we are to die, and as to how many children we may leave behind us. And this latter, despite the fact that our philanthropists conjure us to keep our cradles full. Are these not incontrovertible facts? Let me quote one instance: I have seen a party of twelve married men, whose average individual earnings they declared to me was but thirty-nine shillings weekly. Ten, no less, of these men had no family whatever; they stated logically and simply that they could not afford to rear families. This instance suffices to illustrate that the present Gold system possesses the power to check the growth of our population, and that it governs the sacred institution of marriage, and also the angelic babe in that cradle which we are abjured to keep full. Are you so commercially or morally blind that you can't see that Gold governs the duplicate in the cradle (that sacred name cradle), and the little God-angel, smiling and chirping under its canopy of white, little dreaming that through the power of Gold he may never have a playmate to share his baby joys. The poor parents, in their unhappy and inevitable poverty, fold their arms and offer up a prayer to the Golden Calf to give them employment, bread for their babe, and to be merciful. But, in the history of Nations, can we find records setting forth the philanthropy to humanity suffering, and the mercy exhibited towards the struggling poor by capitalists? No. These robber barons, the kings and imperators who have blighted and devastated whole countries, blotting tribes off the earth, these were—compared to the Gold capitalists—gentle and merciful.

Fellow-countrymen, in warning you that capitalists are ever busy forging new links to the chains which already bind us. I proceed to give you some particulars which are calculated to make you think, and think very hard.

On Barter.

Since the earliest times a system of exchanging commodities has been common to man. This was known as barter. One man has exchanged, say, a valuable weapon for a horse. As knowledge increased, man discovered that by bartering in this simple way he started out at the beginning of the year with, say, five possessions, he ended the year with the same number only. He had not increased his possessions. It then occurred to him to select some article, and to give to that article an arbitrary value. In this way, say, one hundred rare featheds would be accepted as value for, say, a horse. Here we see at once that the man who could amass rare feathers by various means could substantially add to his possessions by bartering and that without parting with any articles which he really required for his own use. In this way, then, feathers, skins, cowrie shells, animals, slaves, etc., came to be used as mediums of barter or exchange. Following upon this came the stone age, when, by means of stone axes, men built canoes to voyage in and houses to dwell in. Then followed the iron age, the bronze age, and finally the age of Gold and Silver. These latter metals, ever scarce, he gradually made use of as mediums of exchange by weight. As the centuries rolled on Gold and Silver became the one medium of exchange. In consequence of this the Nation having the richest Gold and Silver mines contributed most to the wealth and power of the world, and, unfortunately, to the wealth and power of individual units of mankind. I ask you to mark this advancement well, so that you may realise that the important system of exchange should not rest alone in the hands of bankers, usurers, and capitalists, but that it should rest in and be properly controlled by the men and women who form the mass of this or any other country.

The great Spartan law-giver, Lycurgus, appears to have seen the terrible effects which would be wrought by a Gold standard. He introduced Iron as a medium. But Iron, owing to its extreme bulkiness, did not win its way. Gold, bright yellow Gold, won its way ahead, until it has become a grinding and a crushing; force, for it has not only destroyed all other standards of exchange, but it is the arbitrary controller of the destinies of man. Hut there is a way of escape from this monster. A million of living men are of more value than a million of Gold coins. If we but grasp the meaning of this fact, grasp it with a proper faith in ourselves, a faith calculated to elevate our destinies out and above the sordid ruck into which we have allowed Gold to cast us, we can rise and escape its clutches. There are some of us—there always will be some—but comparatively a few, who will continue to worship and to lust after Gold and the power which it gives to them. Hut these will not assist to draw the masses out of the awful gutter into which that same Gold has plunged and still plunges them. Then as to the, awful crime of crimes, its regulation, to the extent of denial, of infant life. Vet this unholy domination of Gold does not appear to unduly concern the average preacher of Christianity in our day. Apparently the sacred love of a woman for her babe, the one great comfort and blessing; of a mother's life, is not a matter for the average preacher to extol. If it were he would curse the power of Gold, which is now blasting infant life, and which is making a mockery—nay, something lower, of our marriage institution. In earlier day those who were blessed with large families were objects of kindly envy: to-day parents with large families are scorned and counted fools. Landlords of houses of accommodation excuse themselves from taking families in; and folk who advertise for "a man and wife" whose services are needed—it is usually the well-to-do who thus advertise—generally add the ominous word "unencumbered." So that children have to-day become cumbersome, they are in the way, "not wanted." "Not wanted," for-sooth, dear little mites; their presence militates against those concerned making annually a few extra yellow sovereigns. "These he four gods, O Israel!" these golden sovereigns. And so it is that we have now reached a stage when married couples tell us unblushingly how many—if any at all—children they can afford to have. In the name of our common humanity I ask: Can this be right? A thousand times I answer, It is not right. And I declare that this evil state of things is largely attributable to the peculiar scarcity and power of Gold. It makes one shudder to reflect that not only is our comfort and happiness dependable upon the quantity of Gold which is mined from the earth; but also the natural processes which perpetuate our kind. And Nature, our loving mother, has she ever systematically starved us by millions? Has she ever denied to man the fruits of the earth, and of his own industry? Certainly not. For God has not intended this to be. But, under our Gold system we may starve, starve in the midst of plenty, starve whilst warehouses and grain stores are packed from floor to ceiling. And why? Why, but because we lack the Gold wherewith to purchase the bare necessaries of life. And we lack this because of the wretched system of Gold capitalism which we have so long tolerated, and which we ourselves have partly fostered by our running after Gold. Alas, parents have finally decided that the size of the family must be regulated by the income, that whilst a family of two may be supported in comfort, a family of seven will bring hardships, poverty and hunger. O, man, O woman, how much longer will you allow this sinful and beastly Kate of affairs to continue before you rise up against it as true and noble creatures of your Maker? You profess to be a divine creation "made in His image." yet you perpetuate these sins. In days of old the slaying of a single and ordinary infant caused war to-day they are page 4 slain and stifled ere born, apparently with little compunction. Pour little "not wanted." O, men and women, think what it means, not only to your individual selves, but to the race and people to which you belong; for a decreasing population means your conquest by a more natural-living' and less Gold-lustful race. In spite of this fact, our law-makers and those who dispense the law, our leading men of thought and education, and our leading writers, are all strangely silent on this vital subject. Are we ourselves then to remain alike silent? No, we must speak up to our kind as men who have the true humanitarian and Christian instinct. And we must do this ere that instinct becomes deadened and dumb in the sight of the Gold system. And let us not only curse this system, but let us, in addition to that, denounce those leading educationalists whose intellectuality exhausts itself on matters which are trifles compared to this one subject, the Gold subject.

State Issue and Paper Money.

Let us briefly consider what precedents we have for the establishment of a State Bank of our own and the issue of paper money. The first precedent we have of the use of paper money is that in the case of the Hank of Venice. Paper currency issued by this Bank was circulated throughout Europe safely and soundly for the long period of 600 years, the Hank of Venice becoming ruined only when that marvel Napoleon conquered Venice. Excepting that extraordinary crisis, it is recorded of that Bank that no ordinary crisis, such as we are accustomed to, ever materially affected it during the whole of its long period of activity. Furthermore, history points to this fact, that a judicious use of paper money enabled Europe to carry on war—we are not advocating war, far from it; we are merely setting out the extra disadvantages of the time—for a period of six centuries, no less, In issuing its paper money, then, the Bank had faith in itself, faith in its people, and faith in its securities.

Then there is the case of the American Civil War. There was not sufficient Gold available for President Lincoln, so that he and his Cabinet decided to issue paper money with which to carry on the war. The Act for a paper issue passed Congress in the form that it would be a legal tender for anything. The Senate, or Upper House, unwisely altered this so that interest on Government bonds held by the State and Customs duties were to be paid in Gold. Congress not being strong enough to resist this, the Act passed accordingly, and the prestige of the paper money was injured at its inception. Despite this fact, Lincoln carried on a four years war, fed and clothed his troops, a million of men, and paid for all war material with the paper money. Alas, it is a sad tale to relate, that subsequently the Gold-bugs got to work and effectually ruined holders of this paper money. It was to the Gold-bugs' interests to do this, and they did it without hesitation. In order to effect it Bankers conspired together and lobbied Congress till they of an Act passed which suited them. That paper money, mark well, interfered with bankers' profits in the shape of interest, and they worked until they got interest attached to the paper money. We must seriously and now ask ourselves whether we are going to allow the question of wealthy bankers' profit is interest to further dominate our currency to our poverty and ruin. We must ask ourselves right here and now whether we shall control our currency or allow our currency to control us, to our ruin. So surely as it is to the capitalists' interest to perpetuate this scheme of interest and money-lending, which interest he reaps from the industry of the toiling and sometimes hungry masses, so surely is it to our interest to make away with that interest, and to promote a system of free untaxable money; untaxable, that is, by being non-interest bearing. Free page 5 money means real freedom to us; it means true liberty for us. Not the kind of "Liberal" liberty meted out to us to-day in the shape of increasing interest-payments and increasing taxation. No, not this kind. Not the kind that our "Liberal Government" is treating us to, and which, in its past twenty years of power, has piled up our national debt to alarming proportions, and cause us to groan under our burden of taxation and interest payments,

In this way the bankers and capitalists lobbied in Congress. The bankers and their agents first depreciated the paper issue, named the Greenbacks, then in circulation, by refusing to receive them over their counter at their full face value. They reduced these notes from time to time when receiving them in payment. When these interest-mongers had reduced the face value of the Greenbacks in the money market as low as they dared, they then lobbied in Congress and got a law passed that any man bringing 10,0000. dollars' worth of Greenbacks into the treasury would see them burned before his face, and receive back a bond bearing 6 per cent, interest upon their full faced value of the notes burned, although they had bought them in some instances, and others received others by way of trade for perhaps half their value in the public market. Then several hundred millions worth of-dollars in paper was withdrawn from circulation among the poorer people by this system, making the buying power of the poor poorer, and the rich richer in their cursed interest upon the innocent Greenback. Then a howl went up but nothing was done. Here, then, we see a people made in debt to their own money, and paying interest on burnt paper through their sublime ignorance.

We have had the spectacle of a Silver boom in the United States. The Gold-bugs interfered, and the capitalists of New York, London, and Paris, per medium of one Mr. Ernest Seyd. got into touch with members of the American Congress, and successfully destroyed Silver as a standard of coin. This at once threw the whole work of currency upon Gold, and the appreciation of Gold quickly set in. Alas, then, for the people, with Silver as a token only—as copper with us—their purchasing power was delimited, and they suffered accordingly. As no debt over £2 could be paid for in Silver, a panic followed. But let us draw the curtain on that action of the Gold-bugs and its appalling consequences. By the way this Gold standard was forced upon the millions of India, a shocking crime. The destandardising of Silver was equivalent to blasting their food crops.

Both friends and opponents are in the habit of advancing the objection that paper money will not pay a foreign debt. No one ever contends that paper money was ever intended to circulate out of the country in which it is issued. English paper notes do not, except to a very limited extent, circulate out of Great Britain, In cases where they do, exchange has to be paid for this concession into the currency of a new country. They only ease where Government Bonds have been used in the payment of a foreign debt. In that of the indemnity paid by France to Germany after the war of 1870-1871. Even in this case it was only a mutual agreement between the Powers concerned, and did nothing towards establishing a precedent.

Take again the case of a large trading firm in possession of some thousands of the Dominion's paper notes, in which to pay their foreign creditors. All that is necessary is for the State Bank in New Zealand to issue a draft for the required amount on their agents in London. It is then simply a matter of simple bookkeeping for the English creditor to secure the money owing to him.

It must be remembered that under the proposed system the State will be the only Gold buyer, and thus would have no difficulty in building up a sufficient reserve to meet all requirements. Still another page 6 case: a worker or small business man has by thrift accumulated a few hundreds of State notes. He wishes to leave for another country. All that is necessary for him to do is to deposit his notes in the local Bank, which for a small charge will grant him a letter of credit, which he can immediately utilise in the new country. In New Zealand to-day there is a Bank doing business; fully 75 per cent, of their shareholders are non-resident, and can at any moment withdraw deposits for the purpose of speculation in other countdies. No such position could [unclear: exi] under a State Bank system. The same argument applies to any industry or undertaking in which the interests of the general publican involved. A very pertinent instance of this is offered by the purchase of the Cheviot State in Malborough. Vendors received [unclear: a] money whatsoever, but were paid in Government Bonds, of which tit holders draw the interest. The payment of this interest is no conecte of the State, since the amount was added unto the rental of the lane and has proved no burden to the individual farmer. Such industry as the Union S.S. Company, Parapara Iron Field, Taranaki of Field, would be acquired on equally advantageous terms, and would prove no burden to the State.

It seems strange that our labour leaders for the last 20 years have to entirely ignored these crucial questions, and have devoted themselves to the petty problems, which would solve themselves if the more important matters were put on a more satisfactory basis. As far as steamship facilities are concerned. Western Australia has provided as object lesson, which is well worthy of imitation in New Zealand.

The fail of the B a stile was the first substantial intimation which Louis and his nobles had of the French Revolution. One of the chief causes which led up to this revolution was the currency question, is was the scarcity of the circulation of Gold and Silver amongst the people, a scarcity which affected alike the peasant, the farmer, and the merchant. Against this revolution the Powers sent all their armies. The President of the French Republic, Carnot, finding himself without Gold and Silver with which to raise forces to meet the invaders, had resort to a paper money issue. These were termed assignats, and with these he defended France, by paying his French soldiers, etc. Mark the sequel. Pitt, being Premier of England, established four factories, employing 400 men, for the manufacture of counterfeit assignats. These in millions he caused to be smuggled into France, and in that one terrible blow the French paper money was destroyed. In this we find a further proof that it is by the most extraordinary means only that paper money can be destroyed.

Let me draw your attention now to a striking instance of the work of paper money, and its success when no extraordinary means of interfering with it are adopted. The inhabitants of Guernsey (one of the Channel islands) badly wanted a market-place. Having no money with which to build and establish it, but confident that whet once it was built it could be very profitably let they decided to issue paper notes, such notes to pass as currency throughout the island (4,000). With these, then, the necessary buildings were erected, and when finished the whole was profitably "let. The income from the property was applied by the Committee in redeeming the paper money. This was done with such good effect that in the course of a few years the total issue of paper money was redeemed, and the people thus gol their valuable market-place free of either interest or taxation. Just think of this, and think how our Public Works, our Roads, and our Railways could be built by the same system, and without our being taxed. Why is it not done? It is because we allow the Gold-bugs; to dominate the position and to burden us with taxation. We are in page 7 the hands of the coin-lenders, who grow fat upon the wealth which they accumulate from our honest toil. Against that let us glance at the process and system of the purely Gold and Silver standards.

Causes the Fall of Empires.

It is a fact well known to students of history that the Empires which rose by conquests, force of arms, became effete mainly owing to the heavy tribute exacted by them from the nations which they conquered, and which tribute was paid in Gold. This so enriched the conquerors that they, as time passed, live more and more luxuriously, a sure forerunner of their decay. Take, for instance, the Roman Empire. During the greatness of that Republic, her monetary system—the refined conception of the Greeks—was symbolic, consisting of numerals stamped upon bronze or copper, termed "numus." The issue was controlled, limited, registered and regulated—as a State monopoly, mark well—by the Senate, which jealously guarded and maintained this privilege of stamping the legend, "S.C. Ex. Senatus Consulto," and the number on the face. This was done by decree of the Senate, and the people were given to clearly understand that their value was not contained in the material iself, but was contained and legally in the number stamped thereon. This system continued during two centuries, the brightest and best of Roman law and civilisation. When this system was changed, Rome lost her liberties, but—outwardly—the State grew apparently more powerful and dreaded; inwardly its people were no longer one with the State. The currency system was encroached upon, corrupted, and finally destroyed by the coinage of Gold. From that date it came to be dependent on conquest, plunder, mining, and slavery. It was the Patricians and capitalists who fostered and established Gold coinage, and the mixed currency of bullion-value of the Augustan age, which has come down to our own. The great advantage to the masses of the original system consisted in the fact that no man or association of men could make a "corner" of it in the interests of greed. Under the coinage system, when the Roman armies conquered a new land the people of that land were forced to work their mines in the interests of the Roman generals and patricians. Gold at once did the work which it is intended to do it increased the riches of the wealthy, and consigned the masses to homes of poverty. So the Roman Empire fell; fell because the people would no longer fight for it. "Why should we fight." said the people, "seeing that we have no homes of our own to fight for. To-day those words are repeated by our own people for the same reason. Our Gold system is manipulated by and in the sole interests of capitalists. Look, for instance, at the' rich South African mines, where the Chinamen were taken in their thousands to slave, and the white miner is allowed to starve. For what? For what but to allow those privileged under the Gold system to amass more and more wealth at the expense of the heavily taxed toiled. In reality their slaves.

Value of Financial Education.

According to "The Knights of Labour" journal, the United States school system neglects to provide tuition in the science of banking and the various monetary systems of the world. We find this to be largely the same in our Maoriland. It follows on the lines of the earlier Creed, which denied to the people a free use of the Bible. This kept them sufficiently ignorant as to be under the thumbs of their leaders. It certainly pays the capitalist to keep our youth in ignorance as to the methods by which our currency is run, and the relative values, to the capitalists and to the people, of Gold. Silver, Copper and Paper. If our youth were taught the rudiments of this, our people, in the page 8 course of time, would cease to depend for our advancement on the Gold of foreign money-lenders. It is indeed sad to reflect that we are dependent upon this foreign money for our very comfort. Why speak of happiness? Hanking concerns do not trouble about our happiness. They are more concerned about precipitating crises of finance and in the consequent seizure of fat mortgages and squeezing the poor. What deluded creatures we are, seeing that centuries of this evil process have not sufficiently taught our masses that we trust to broken reeds, that the words of the high priests of banking convey luxuries to the few and poverty and misery to the masses. Let us have our youth educated in finance. We can do this well and cheaply on paper money, as I shall presently show. Let, then, education in finance become our common cry, and let it become a faith with us. It is assuredly to be hoped that the Labour Party, which is slowly moving up into power, will advocate and insist on a financial education for our youth. So, in the course of time, it may be expected that the masses—as of their right—should control the principles of our currency. We must not, we cannot, depend for this upon the efforts of the philanthropical; we must ourselves bring it about,

A State Bank Wanted, and a Paper Issue.

Our need of a State Bank and a Paper Issue of our own is: For the purpose of controlling and regulating the power of Gold, and with that taxation. We are able, if we so choose, to lower the interest on Gold, and to carry out all of our Public Works without paying interest—as we now are—on borrowed money. Our roads, railways, public buildings, proposed irrigation works, the generation of electricity, and the opening up of all our mineral deposits, could be done—with our State Bank and our inconvertible Paper Issue—without our paying the Gold-bugs a penny-piece by way of interest. Without paying large sums in interest, facilities could be given for the opening up and mining of the rich gold-belts of Macetown, Arrow River, and the old bed of the Kawaru, which is known to be rich in gold, facilities for the working of which are not yet given. Then there is the rich Parapara iron mine, in Nelson. This is considered to be the richest in Australasia, and it is being leased to a foreign company. This mine should belong to and be worked by the State in the interests of the State. Our Government neglects it, and our people do not unitedly protest against its being, as it were, confiscated by foreigners for the benefit of Gold-bugs. It appears that the Hon. Mr. Cadman held some right to lease it, and if our people and the mining community in particular, do not raise a voice of united protest, this rich mine will be lost to us.

This mine, then, could be worked on a Paper issue. Just think of it. It could be worked on a Paper issue in the exclusive interests of our people, and without the payment of taxation or interest. Yet, partly owing to our own lack of zeal, it is passing rapidly from us! This mine, that probably in a few years will be employing a thousand men, is passing into the hands of a foreign syndicate. Our miners would assuredly rather work for the State—that is ourselves—than for foreigners. Yet we allow ourselves to be robbed of this our birthright. Just as in the case of the great Waihi gold mine. Now, just ask yourselves what has been done with the millions of money that has been mined from this wonderful concern. Why, it has, tinder our crushing Gold system, been minted, passed into the hands of the Gold, bugs, and been loaned out to us—to the people to whom it originally belonged—at a high rate of interest, which compels our being heavily taxed. If we continue thus blind to our own interests, if we do not bestir ourselves, we shall remain—and we deserve to—at the mercy of the Gold-bugs, We should take such steps as will force our page 9 Government to conserve our interests by the conservation of our minerals and the natural riches of our country. Take another instance, that of the opening in the Karamea district. Nelson Province. Here there has accumulated a wealth of Copper. Gold, Silver, and other valuable minerals, to which has been given the name of Mount Radiant. The development of this is awaiting capital, which means that it will pass into the hands of a Company whose interests are not necessarily our interests, who will probably exploit these riches with the further view of exploiting us ourselves. Now, with a State Bank of our own, and a Paper issue, we could open this up ourselves in the interest of the State, which, as 1 have already stated, is our own interest. By making a small levy on the minerals won, this Paper money could be redeemed, and in the meantime we could all share in the benefits of this and similar operations, and this without—as we are now doing—piling up our National Debt. We send out annually for furniture alone something like a quarter of a million sterling," and while doing so we are burning down magnificent furniture-making timber worth at least a like sum. Who is primarily to blame for this? Why, that Government which allows such a state of things to go on. Our timbers should be the means of increasing our employment and earnings. To do this factories could be established for the manufacture of furniture, and these factories could be set up and the factory hands paid with Paper money. Our Government is—even in this democratic country—afraid to introduce a Paper issue. What are they afraid of? What but the Gold-bugs. If our assets in the shape of our millions of acres of fertile land, be good enough security for foreign Gold-bugs, they are assuredly good enough to back up and support any form of currency which we can safely choose to have issued.

Interest and Taxation.

Most people will be surprised to learn that, £1,000,000, at 6 per cent. Compound Interest, becomes in 40 years more than Ten Millions!

In compiling this table, figures over £550 have been reckoned as the next £1,000, and figures under £550 have been discarded.

Yes, for us, hard and cold; but for the Gold-bugs, soft and warm. Are you surprised now to learn why we are every year sinking deeper and deeper into the mire of interest? Now, I have just shown you that during the past 20 years we have paid in interest alone the huge sum of £36,300,315. As against that fact, I now assure you that by the establishment of a State Bank, and by the issue of our own Paper money, that huge amount could be saved by us during the next 20 years! I want you to grasp this fact hard, and I want you to bestir yourselves; to bestir yourselves by telling all your friends these simple truths, and by advocating the establishment of our own State Bank. You will have the Gold-bugs to fight, but better to fight them than to remain—as you now are—their slaves. These Gold-bugs soon page 11 come out against a Paper issue. When the great Benjamin Franklin, of America, in 1739 wrote his able essay recommending a Paper issue, owing to the shortage of money in the States of Delaware and Pennsylvania, these two States adopted it, and thrived under it. But when Franklin died the Gold-bugs successfully destroyed the scheme. They can afford to pay to crush out a system which, while favourable to the masses, deprives them of their "interest." Let us now consider how we may form and work

A State Bank.

Parliament must pass an Act providing for the founding of a Stale Bank, to be styled, say, "The Maoriland State Bank." The Act could provide that any Post Office throughout the Dominion may be used as a branch of the State Bank.

Taxation to be levied for the purpose of building up a Gold reserve for the support of a Paper issue of our own.

Provision to be made prohibiting the export of our Gold. The State must make itself the master of our Gold avenues, and the State—that is the people of our country—must be the controller of our currency.

Provision to be made that a referendum of the people be taken on any large question affecting the introduction, the system, and the working of our currency.

If thought advisable and practicable, the Bank of New Zealand—which is already a State-aided Bank—to be purchased. Although we have saved this Bank by standing at its back, it would cost us a large sum—too large perhaps—to purchase it outright. Personally, I would rather that our banking was done through our Post Offices and rented chambers. However, that is a detail for a committee of the people to decide upon.

There is also the question to decide as to whether our Paper issue should be Convertible or Incontrovertible. The Convertiblist urges that we must have the bullion behind our Paper issue. The Inconvertiblist urges that we do not require bullion behind our Paper money, and argues that we have our Paper earning Gold by saving so much now paid away in interest. If we accept the Convertiblist's advice we could not issue Paper money without having the bullion behind it. We would require either to raise this bullion by special taxation, or borrow it. Common-sense says inconvertible paper and no other. Convertible belongs to the Gold, and must bear interest if we must have Gold to represent it. In the meantime we have no quarrel with Gold as a medium of exchange between Nations. We dimply claim that we can carry on all of our public works by means of our own Paper money, and without paying away the extortionate interest which we are now doing. We also claim that by means of our own Paper money we can build up and amass a large quantity of Cold.

Fellow-countrymen and women, I appeal to you, in the name of that Great Divinity of whom you are the earthly representatives, to ponder well over these matters, and to act. Do not leave it to our Parliamentarians alone; it is not fair to them. Not only that, but they can be "lobbied" by Gold-bugs and the agents of Gold-bugs. I have related how the United States Congressmen were lobbied on the same matters. I want the people, the people who form the State, to take the matter up, to study it well, and to raise their voices in their own interests. If this is done our Parliamentary representatives will be compelled to move, and what is more, in moving they will have the people united behind them. That will give them strength; it will also bring you strength. Furthermore, it is calculated to raise page 12 you out of the interest-paying slough of despond. It will make you more comfortable, more contented, more prosperous, more independent, wiser and nobler men and women. It will be a boon to your homes, and to your dear children in those homes. There should then be no such thing as "unemployment"' of the masses. All of our Colonial industries could be carried on, and carried on well, by our own money issue. Such large undertakings as those of the Taranaki ironsand and oil, build steamers—which at present languish until the Gold Syndicates are ready to snap them up and annex all the profits—could be opened up and worked by our own money, for our own employment, and our own profit. Think of this, study it out, and remembering that while you hesitate and sleep the Gold-bugs are planning fresh schemes, be up and doing. It is in our power as a virile young Nation to set an example to the whole world—an example of the defeat of the tyranny of Capitalism. How can I better appeal to you than by saying: Bestir yourselves now for the sake of yourselves your children, and posterity.

God Bless you all.

In conclusion I ask you to think of these few words. Do you ever think of the great personal God that you have enthroned up in the heavens or sky above you? Do you ever think that you represent Him, and your wife represents the mother of God? If by marrying you have produced gods and goddesses, you have created gold and goddesses. What a power you have, and most of you are blind to this fact, yet according to the doctrine of the Christian religion it is a plain fact, and one you should be proud of.

Does it ever occur to you the terrible and crushing power you have over the animal life on this planet? The early New Zealand emigrant of 60 years ago knows the amount of animal life on the prairies of the South Island, also the animal life in the North Island bush. What do we see now: The South Island prairies covered with cattle, sheep and horses; the North Island bush partly felled and burned, and also covered with sheep and dairy herds Take the fish that stock our sea coast, our rivers and lakes. Look also at the fowl; of the air. Man—man increased all these a thousand-fold. Just pause and think of your power over animal life for life or death. And ask yourselves, '"What power have you over the gold sovereign that exchanges all these commodities between yourselves and other nations?" None. Worse than all your wife and children may be suffering continually, or perhaps dying a lingering death, because you have no power to increase the currency of your country. Yet you have dumped these innocent children down on this earth to take [unclear: pot-] luck as far as you care. Your children are born to hereditary ills, but the worst ill of all is being born to poverty and our ever-increasing interest on a debt of £80,000,000.