SILVER GETTING SHORT.

Auckland Star, Volume LI, Issue 237, 4 October 1920, Page 4

SILVER GETTING SHORT.

m i SPECIE IMPORTS. STOPPED. DUE TO HIGH PRICE OF METAL. COIN'S THAT DISAPPEAR. Gold has vanished from the till, »_$ Iwe are now threatened with a shortage of silver. So far "the inconvenience Is confined to the commercial banks, but no doubt it is only a matter oi time when the business people will find a difficulty in finding small change. Up to the preeent time the retail -hops in. Auckland have not had the same difficulty as their fellow-traders in some of the big shops in Australia, who have been hard put to rake up enough small silver and copper to keep their customers going. There were rumours in Auckland about hoarding silver, particularly on the part of the exotics who cultivate the cabbage and the lettuce, and those who hail from, the densely populated bit of the Empire, which is washed by the waves of the Indian Ocean. These reports, however, can be dismissed at once. The propagator of vegetables has a 'higher aim than the white metaL If he has a long stocking stowed away somewhere it contains gold and nothing more plebeian. As for the dark man, who drifts as naturally to the hawking profession as an Irishman does to the "IForce," there is not enough of him 'here to affect the market even if he had designs on our silver change. LESS COMING IN. It is perfectly easy to explain the short-age. Before the war we were in receipt of regular shipments of silver from the mint in London, but since the price of that metal took to emulating the mercury on a February day these natural increments. have ceased, and as there is always a certain amount of wastage and leakage, it is only a matter of time when the shortage becomes so acute as to inconvenience trade. This unexplained evaporation of silver coinages is one of the curiosities -of numismatics. It is not so noticeable in white countries, but in places like Egypt and India the amount of silver coin which is issued and never accounted for runs into some hundreds of thousands of pounds. During the war there was an absolute dearth of silver towards the end oi the campaign, and the Government had to -issue paper for 25 piastres {51), and even down to 5 piastres (1/), much to the perturbation of the natives, who in some eases could only be induced to accept the new currency with the aid of a boot orj other display of phys : cal force. And the silver that was circulating was of all nations. Port Said wa_ notorious for- the' mixture of coinages that pass current — Italian, Greek, English,' Egyptian, jostling one another in the pocket with impunity. PAPER SMALL CHANGE. It silver does not oome down In price, and we can_ot get our usual shipments of coin from the Old Country, it is quite possible that we shall have an jss-e of 5/ notes. As a matter of convenience the paper notes for the -mailer denominations, such as were issued in Egypt, are much preferablu to the coin. Instead of two unwieldy half crowns, for instance, one will carry a neat slip of paper about four or five in-.hes long by half that width. They have of course the disadvantage of gathering the clinging microbe and the dirt, and if they were not renewed oftener that the filthy pound motes that we have to put up with the convenience would in no way compensate for the additional risk one would run in handling them. Talking about the Egyptian currency, we in New Zealand might well copy their £1 notes in the matter of'size. Instead of the roll of ,; blankets" a man has to carry round in this country, the Egyptian with the same amount of money would have a handy bundle of notes not muoh bigger than the 10/ notes issued by the Bank of New Zealand—and the less paper the ■less dirt.