A MONEY CRAZE SCANDAL.

Auckland Star, Volume LIII, Issue 78, 1 April 1922, Page 17

A MONEY CRAZE SCANDAL.

■ ■ ARTISTIC SMALL CHANGE FOR THE COLLECTOR. Quite a number of European States have long derived // an excellent revenue from the frequent issue of new editions of gorgeous postage stamps, writes Mr. George Renwick in the "Daily Chronicle." These Were quite frankly intended not for postal use to any great extent, but for philatelists' albums. Beautifully produced series of stamps would always bring good prices from collectors, and hard-pressed exchequers benefited accordingly. Now Germany has succumbed to an interesting variety of this craze; it is not a rage for postage stamps, but for what is called "Notgeld," or "emergency money," that afflicts her. Since before the end of the war small change has been very scarce, and local authorities all over the country have been printing local notes of low denominations —for o, 10, 25, and -0 pfennige and M.l. But local and other less authoritative bodies have recently found that there is a use for "Notgeld" other than that of filling the gap left by the disappearance of nickel and silver coins. People began to collect emergency notes and local authorities, up to the eyes iv debt as all German local authorities are, were not slow to make them numerous and worth collecting. They have nowbecome a craze such as "cigarette cards" once were. Berlin, for example, has just begun the issue of 20 different varieties of 30 pfennige notes, with scenes from Old Berlin on them. Health resorts are issuing notes to advertise yieir casinos; the eastern districts find in them an excellent vehicle for anti-Entente propaganda. On those of Hemeln (Browning's Hamelin City) we find the historic ratcatcher at his grim work of revenge. The beauties of the Rhine, Thuringia, and theh Upper Elbe are artistically advertised. And so on. Seeeing how very litttlc can now be done for M.l. it is clearly obvious that these notes cost more to produce than their face value—for the majority of them really arc works of art. The issue of "Notgeld" has quickly become little less than a .scandal. There is a reason for a huge concern like Krupps issuing its own emergency notes for it must have large amounts of small change for the payment of wages. But there are large printing concerns all over Germany which d> nothing but turn out countless varieties of notes which go, at high prices, straight to the collector and are not used in circulation jat all. i Occasionally in the country the traveij ier will find that Herr Boniface of mine j inn has his own currency, valid within 1 the precincts of his establishment, but I really printed and issued to customers as a curiosity. There is no law to prevent this sort of thing.

It was reckoned that the face value of the emergency notes issued up to the spring of Kill) was something like M.1,4*0.000,000. But since the cra/e took on such great dimensions Govern ment statisticians have, in despair, given up the task of keeping a record of the amount, which they now estimate, very roughly, at M.luO.i 100,000,000. And small change is still ;is scarce as ever! The Finance Minister has been called upon to put a stop to this parody on inflation, lest the time should come when every person will print his own small chance at need !