NO MONEY NEEDED NOW IN DAILY LIFE.

Hawera & Normanby Star, Volume LIII, Issue LIII, 16 April 1908, Page 2

NO MONEY NEEDED NOW IN DAILY LIFE.

PAYMENT BY COUPON THE LATEST FASHION.

The fact that books of tickets for motor-cab rides are about to be issued in London suggests that the time is coming when money will scarcely be used at all. Even now it is possible to ride in trains, "tubes" and tramways with coupons or season tickets; to pay hotel bills with coupons; to have an "abonnemont" at a barber's shop. In Soho there are certain restaurants where customers can pay so much a month for daily lunch or dinner on the Continental plan. An hotel .company possessing large establishments in London, on the South Coast, and in the provinces, undertakes for an annual payment to house and feed one the whole year round, with full liberty to change from hotel to hotel, as business or inclination dictates. It is a wonder that some of the big restaurants have not started this system for their regular patrons. THE HANDY CHEQUE. It may be objected that all these services have to be paid for in money to begin with — when the coupons or season tickets are purchased. But that is not so. Payment can be made by cheque. It is quite within the bounds of possibility that the day may shortly arrive when money will be needed far less than it is to-day — when, indeed, it will hardly be wanted at all. For example, a great many people are already paid by cheque for the work they do. They never handle their plients' or employers' money. By means of a piece oJF paper the sums due are transferred from one bank to another. Then, by means of cheques again, rent, and rates, and taxes, and all big bills are paid. Every expense, in fact, over a few i shilling is met by paper instead of coin. We can easily imagine a business man getting through the day without any need for money in his pocket. He rides in the train with a "season." •He travels on the "'tube," say from Waterloo to Mansion House with a "season." He gets shaved with a "season." The newspapers he reads on the way up to town he paid for in advance — by cheque. The lunch he eats in the middle of the day be paid for in adj vanee — by cheque. The tea which is brought to him in the afternoon is supplied in the same way. TICKETS FOR BEGGARS. I In the evening he is a little late in I leaving the office, and takes a cab to i the station — tearing out enough tickets [ from his book to cover the fare and tip i the driver. Even if he wants to give something to the beggar on the station steps he hands him a ticket for food instead of copper — at least he could do so in France or Germany or the United States, and no doubt the system will soon take root here. . At .the week-end he goes away to the seaside. In exchange for a cheque he receives a paper which entitles him to travel to his destination, to stay in the hotel he has selected, and to travel back. All he" requires of money is a few shillings for tips. When such a man buys things — whether it be a suit of clothes, a box of cigars, a bracelet for his wife, or a new tie for himself, he never thinks of- paying in money. He has an account, and pays half-yearly or so by cheque. He can get everything he requires this way, -from theatre tickets to funeral expenses.