“MONOMARKS.”

Hawera Star, Volume XLV, 3 September 1925, Page 3

“MONOMARKS.”

UN-DUPLICATED IDENTITY MARK

A N INTERESTING IN VENTION. Members of the London and’ Overseas Press were invited to a luncheon at Hotel Victoria to hear something about an invention which will give an imduplicated mark of identity to innumerable people and linns. Sir Sydney Skinner, who presided, said that if the scheme accomplished what they thought it would, it would make a decided impression on British trade, and that was of importance at this particular moment of supposed depression,' though he admitted that he did not think the depression was so bad as was suggested in some quarters. He believed that in this invention they were striking a new note. Englishmen, he said, were very conservative. They did not like new things, but there was a wonderful amount of intelligence in the Old. Country. He was able to announce that many ‘important business men favoured the scheme, and Lord Mestoh confirmed the. impression which had been made by the inventor. Mr. William Morris, the inventor, explained that a monomark was a group of from on e to live symbols, con. sis ting of either alphabetical characters, numerals, or a combination of both. Every group before' it could fullil the purpose of the British monomark, must be preceded, by either of two prefixes —either BM standing for British Monomark, or BUM, standing for British Commefcial Monomark. Monomarks of other countries would have varying prefixes’ id denote nationality. H e stated that the word monomark was coined for the purpose of expressing uniqueness, and iinduplieated mark of identity. No monomark would have its duplicate in the world. They had on their register a sufficient number of different monomarks to give one each to every responsible person in the civilised world. Although they were composed of characters other than numerals, all monomarks had their position in the ordinary numerical scale, and could be readily indexed. They offered their system to the Treasury, the Post Office, andi banks for numbering Treasury notes, postal orders, and cheques. Monomarks were 729 times more efficient than ordinary numerals. The system was sharply divided into two sections, the monomark for the commercial firm, and the ’ monomark for the private individual. HOW FIRMS. WILL BENEFIT. Dealing with the commercial aspect he'said that they proposed that manufacturers or merchants would stamp the monomark on their wares, or, whe n ordered to do so, the monomark of their customer. Any article, whether paper, wood, leather, or any other material might hear a Monomark, which, if necessary, might be as small as a hallmark. Not only would it be the equivalent of a full name and address, but the first letter of the prefix would establish the country of issue. There was another way in which it would meet a longfelt want. For many reasons a firm might wish to be in'receipt of a correspondence respecting certain 1 articles it sells and yet not desire to disclose its identity. * For example, Jones and Co. had a reputation for ’liigh-olass goods, and adopted the Monomark BCM/PAC. They desired, to experiment with the sale of a lower and cheaper grade of goods. They therefore registered and used for this purpose another Monomark , such as; BGM/XYZ. They could therefore receive orders from any part of the world for the latter, without lowering their reputation for the former. ADVANTAGE TO THE INDIVIDUAL As to the advantage to the individual, he pointed out- that instead of putting his initials on his luggage, as at present, lie . could put his Monomark. In all cases of lost or mislaid articles the finder should write to the Monomark upon the article! The company itself would not handle lost goods. A child becoming lost, or a relative meeting with aii accident, would be readily identified by the Monomark upon the linen, clothinrr or belongings. * There were in England alone 530,000 people of the name of Smith, of whom 204,000 were J. Smith, 41,000 John Smith, 30,000 J. W. Smith and 5000 John William Smith. From the time since there were two Adams in the world civilisation had needed the Monomark

The legend ‘‘Made in England” was ofte n a lie, but ‘‘Made’ in England BOM/H44S” was a. signed statement which.’ 'might be challenged by means of a postage stamp. Among the results they expected to achieve were: More orders for the Home Country and increased production'‘for its mills and factories; lessened overhead charges, easier distribution, and the freer exchange of commodities; less bolstering tip ! of inferior' articles at the expense of the better* articles, and readier repeat orders.'