(To THE EDITOB.) ' Sib, — I have carefully read Mr E. A. Hag gen's letter in your issue of last Wednesday, and I agree with the writer otrthe question of the scarcity of the medium of exchange. If I thought, as he seems to do, that with the currency conditions proposed by him all distress and misery would take wings and fly away, I should say let us go straight for it and not falter until victory crowns our efforts. It is a fact that the money is princi pally held in the colony by those who are afraid to let it be used for the purpose it was made. What good, let me ask, are our bank ing institutions to the colony ? In times of difficulty and depression the order is to get the money into safe custody and lock it up ; and all others who have got capital adopt the same course, and so stop all speculation and bring the trade of the country to a standstill, with the result that small businesses suffer and the unemployed grow in numbers. That such a state of things could be possible shows there is something shamefully wrong, par ticularly in such a country as New Zea land, with a soil and climate capable of producing everything that man can desire. At the same time, we must not overlook the composition of our population. What is the. percentage of those, I should like to ask, of. whom it can be said that they work for a living? Their number is very small; and small though their number be, they have to keep an army of non-producers, of clerks, and Government officials of every class. I would also like to know whether our Liberal Go vernment have made the country better or caused anything in the shape of reproductive works to be carried on or what service are their borrowing schemes to confer on the country ? The idea of lending money to far mers to assist them in producing oats and wheat which are already being produced beyond our requirements and beyond the possibility of obtaining a payable market for them is something I cannot understand. 