Woolly cheques bounce back

Press, 28 February 1986, Page 1

Woolly cheques bounce back

PA Whangarei A flock of 123 sheep became walking cheques yesterday for an infla-tion-hit farmer and his wife anxious to settle a bill— but they were “bounced” by the building supply firm, Winstone.

They may have been tender, but were they legal, was the Immediate question , faced by the firm’s local management. “We did not want to look foolish so we checked with the bank and lawyers,” said Mrs Lyn Tetzner, of Paparoa,

as her husband, Alex, talked over settlement of

his $1226 bill for building materials with a slightly taken aback company credit manager. Outside, yardmen were outwardly reluctant to accept the woolly, $l9 cheques as they were unloaded from a truck. Winstone allowed the unloading in its yard as a

“gesture,” but politely refused to enter up the sheep in the till. So Mr Tetzner’s sheep ended up again on their home pastures at Olgino station. There was no bad

blood between him and Winstone, he said.

“They have always treated me well.” < The firm had been willing to go along with the spirit of the protest, which Mr Tetzner said was over reduced returns from freezing works, 30 per cent-plus interest rates, and the freezing industry strike.

He had painstakingly written the cheques with a large marker on the backs of the shorn sheep — 121 at $lO and one at $16.72, for a particularly good wether.

Mr Tetzner said, lambs were grossing between $2O and $24, but killing charges, transport and prices cut this to $lO in the hand. *■ • Several banks told the “Northern Advocate” that the cheques were legal, as long as they were written, coded and signed correctly. and stamp duty paid (which could be a postage stamp.) The problem was processing — “We can’t have live sheep running round the bank,” one banker said.