DISAPPEARING SILVER

Dominion, Volume 26, Issue 184, 2 May 1933, Page 8

DISAPPEARING SILVER

Smuggling of Half-crowns The diminishing amount of silver coinage in circulation, mentioned in a message from Dunedin last week, lias become noticeable in Wellington and authorities are convinced that extensive smuggling continues of British coins by persons leaving the country. This applies particularly to halfcrowns, with which travellers fill their pockets and odd corners of -their luggage with the object of evading the cost of exchange. The belief that a person has a right to do what he likes with his own money persists. One citizen yesterday in affirming this principle quoted Senator Borah, who last week declared that if lie had 1000 dollars gold he would defy the Government to take it from him. It is true that there is an embargo against taking quantities of gold or silver out of the country; nevertheless it is being done every week. Only recently a Wellington passenger for London told his friends that he was talcing £l5 worth of halfcrowns distributed in various trunks, but there have been reports of much larger quantities going out of the country by homeward-bound passengers. While British-minted halfcrowns are being re-transferred to the land of their origin under the urge of a 25 per cent, exchange, tlie Aus-tralian-minted florin is still freely circulating in New Zealand.