I was in the library the other day looking for some information in the 1878 New Zealand Gasette (published in 1879). Back then the Bank of New SOuth Wales had $16M pound stirling in gold reserves and $80M pound stirling out on loans. So they were backing every $1.00 loan with $0.20 in gold which compares with around a backing of $0.12 per $1.00 in loans on average now. I feel all Fiet currencies need to have some form of backing otherwise the paper is not worth the cost of printing it,
