SOLD FOR HALF

Auckland Star, Volume LXXV, Issue 305, 26 December 1944, Page 5

SOLD FOR HALF

ENGLISH BANKNOTES Fear Of Campaign To Catch Black Market Hoards N.Z. Press Association—Copyright Rec. 11 a.m. LONDON, Dec. 25. Bank of England notes of £1000 are being sold for £500 and £100 notes are being sold for half their face value, according to the Sunday Dispatch. This collapse in the value of big bank notes, according to the paper, is due to the fear that the Treasury, through the Bank of England, is about to launch an intensified campaign to get at the hidden cash fortunes of black marketers. The Chancellor of the Exchequer, Sir John Anderson, rejected a proposal that all bank notes from 10/ upward should be withdrawn, but he has not rejected a proposal that notes of £]0 and more should be withdrawn and invalidated after a certain date. The Bank of England has already stopped the issue and reissue of all notes of £10 and upwards. This means that when a big note reaches the bank it is held and a new note is not issued in its place. Already half the number originally issued have been scrapped. These regulations have not stopped black marketing but most persons engaged in the black market now deal only in £1 notes. The paper adds: "The calling in of all bank notes in Belgium was successful in rendering useless the fortune of black marketers, but the Chancellor of. the Exchequer does not consider such a step necessary in Britain. . _