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Grey River Argus, 21 July 1922, Page 4

The penny-in-the-slot stamp machines which, are now a feature of many post offices, have a habit of often being out of order, and most citizens unthinkingly immediately blame the post office officials. The fault, however, invariably lies with the adult public who attempt to force the machine to use bad coins, or, maybe, the small boy element is responsible. The chief postmaster at Napier recently showed a “Tribune” reporter a collection of coins which had upset the machine in the private box lobby during th? past month. There included a French 10 per cent piece, a penny struck by a Brunswick firm to commemorate the Federation of Australia, and stamped 1901, a Spanish two centimes copper coin, five badly flattened pennies, a piece of lead the size and shape of a penny, and a flattened halfpenny. In addition, the machine was cleared of several tops of match boxes and a quantity of sand.