FAKED COINS

King Country Chronicle, Volume XXVI, Issue 3441, 10 March 1932, Page 5

FAKED COINS

MENDICANTS IN SYDNEY.

Sydney, 3rd March. New Zealand visitors to Sydney for the Sydney Harbour Bridge carnival will need the hundred eyes of Argus, with only two asleep at a time, and hard hearts and good digestions, if they are to dodge faked two-shilling pieces and other coins, and to pass philosophically and cheerfully the multitude who accost Sydney folk at all hours of the day and night with the greeting: “Excuse me, Digger, but can yer give us the price of a feed?” which, in its strict interpretation, means the price of a beer in most cases They will also need a spare eye for those with a digital genius for picking pockets. The counterfeit coin “industry” is flourishing in Sydney just now as few industries are flourishing*. For some time it was confined to “two bobs,” but it is now reported to have extended to sixpences and shillings. If you happen to be in Sydney for the carnival, and someone in the shops, for example, reminds you that . the com which you have tendered is crook, don’t question him. If you do he will give you a. demonstration ot its “crookedness” by twisting it up or breaking a piece off it, which, ox course, will make it even more worthless as an instrument of barter m the market place than before.. The best thing .is to take it back in exchange for another coin, without any argument, and then pass it on to someone else. You may not succeed at first, but you will eventually. That’s what Sydney does.