ABSTRACT
In the end the collapse of the pound sterling in 1931 and the uncertainties regarding the dollar after 1933, not to mention the troubles of these countries – the so-called Gold Block – which attempted to maintain a stable relationship with gold, completed the process. It is against this background of inter-war confusion and the change in outlook which accompanied it that the attempt to create a new international monetary system must be considered. But it has occurred to the author that some survey of the general aim and objectives of the ideas which have dominated monetary policy in this country during the last half century and some glance at present conceptions may not be outside the spirit of Lord Mais’s foundation. So much for a most superficial view of the vicissitudes of opinion in regard to monetary objectives in the past half century.
