ANTARCTIC BANKING

Press, Volume XCVIII, Issue 29058, 21 November 1959, Page 10

ANTARCTIC BANKING

First Transactions At McMurdo 9 ' A Bank of New Zealand token agency was set up in United States Navy headquarters at McMurdo Sound, Antarctica, this week. The flag quarters were the place of the agency’s initial transaction—the exchange of New Zealand funds for American currency. , A declaration of the transaction’s character, which included a claim for an Antarctic "first,” was signed by an American congressman—Mr J. R. Pillion—for whom the exchange had been made.

The American expedition commander (Rear-Admiral D. M. Tyree) was a signatory to the declaration which was yesterday described as “a valuable adjunct to the bank’s archives.”

The agency was established by Mr Cliff Milne, travel officer of the bank in Christchurch. Mr Milne has had a day and night association with the American Antarctic forces passing through Christchurch and Lyttelton in the last four years. His stay of six hours at McMurdo Sound was the result of a personal invitation. Mr Milne flew south on Tuesday afternoon, and his service to Mr Pillion was conducted at 11.37 pm. that day, he said. Later, he hung up his sign in a nearby hut, and carried out two more transactions—one an ex-

change of large dollar bills into smaller ones, and the other the exchange of low denomination bills into larger ones. The occasion was “famous,” according to Mr Milne’s report of what Mr Pillion had said. Witnesses to the “first” included officers, a scientist, and an artist.