CREDIT OF AN ENGLISHMAN

Evening Star, Issue 19763, 13 January 1928, Page 2

CREDIT OF AN ENGLISHMAN

Nothing in Continental travel makes one more proud of our race thau fhe credit of an Englishman (says ‘John o’ Londons Weekly’). In a long experience of wandering round the Continent the writer has on many occasions been astonished by the ready manner in which English money and notes have been accepted without question by the natives, and more astonished still to find that private cheques on London were cashed just as readily and without question. . „ , Once in Berlin the son of a well-known. K.C., who had arrived in the German capital on his first visit, became, because of a delay in the post, temporarily short of ready cash. Tho writer offered to help him over the week-end, hut the K.C.’a son remarked: “Let mo see if I can cash a cheque at the hotel.” The cheque was tendered, and was immediately cashed, no question being asked. “Why,” asked the writer of the cashier, “did you change a stranger’s cheque?” “ He’s English,” was tho reply. “ Would you cash mine?” I asked. “Certainly, sir; you arc also English.” Recently in most out-of-the-way places in Spain' English coin, Treasury and bank notes were taken by shops and hotelkeepers, and London cheques were also accepted in payment for goods or accommodation. AN ADVENTURE IN SPAIN. There was a quaint example of the faith placed in the integrity of an Englishman at Alcala, a township some ten miles from Seville. Half a dozen gipsy children, who live with their parents in crevices and boles iu the mountain side, brown-skinned and bright-eyed, begged for pennies. They were given one each, and departed in great glee. Meanwhile the writer went to look at a church some distance away, and when he retraced his steps he was confronted by two of the children, one aged about nine and the t other five. The latter solemnly squatted on [ the paved road and dropped her penny on a stone; there was a dull clink. The elder child dropped hers, which gave forth a true “ ring.” It was obvious that the baby thought she had been given a bad penny by mistake, and she looked up expectantly. An exchange was made, the new penny being tested by sound as before, and with a soft adios the children departed. Not only do the natives accept English money and cheques, but in most cases the Englishman's statement as to the rate of exchange. The sovereign, which wept out of circulation in the British Isles in 1914, spoke all languages most eloquently. The “fiver” and the Treasury note seem to have taken iis pVaoe.