LINK WITH U.S.A.

Nelson Evening Mail, Volume 77, 11 August 1942, Page 2

LINK WITH U.S.A.

OLD WHALING AND SEALING DAYS WHEN DOLLAR WAS PART OF OUR COINAGE How many members of the movement are there who realise that the American dollar was once recognised as part of the coinage of New Zealand? This was one of many interesting facts regarding early associations between the United States and New Zealand revealed by Mr Allan Sutherland, F.R.N.S., a member of the Education Committee of the New Zealand Section of the British American Co-operation Movement, in the course of an address to the New Zealand Numismatic Society. “New Zealand shares an ocean frontier with the United States of America and from the earliest sealing and whaling clays the United States as the dominant trading nation of the Pacific, exercised an influence over the trade of this Dominion,” said Mr Sutherland. “That influence, which was marked during the days of sailing vessels, waned to some extent with the advent of steamships and protective tariffs, but during the present international stress the United States of America, Australia and New Zealand have been “rediscovering” their neighbours in the interests of self-preservation and in the defence of democracy. “From about 1800 to nearly 1850 U.S.A. sailing vessels from Nantucket, New Bedford and Boston almost swarmed the virgin fishing waters around New Zealand and the Southern Seas. During a large part of this time, New Zealand was ‘no man’s land,’ while Australia was a British possession, and this resulted in foreign whaling vessels congregating around the free shores of New Zealand, which provided good anchorages and provisioning depots close to the rich sealing and whaling grounds of the Pacific. “In 1834 the number of American whaleships engaged in the Southern Seas, and mainly in and around the coasts of New Zealand, was 273—employing about 9000 men—and this was at a time when the number of British whalemen operating off the coasts of New Zealand, together with the number of British residents at shore stations, did not greatly exceed 2000. It will be seen, therefore, that the influence of American sailors, sojourners and traders at this stage was much greater than that of the British in accustoming the Maori to the ways of European modes of living and trading. Despite the fact that British whaling ventures were subsidised, they could not succeed as well as the more fully organised and unsubsidised American whaling com panies operating from nearer home bases. In March, 1840, the London Journal of Commerce stated that the whale fisheries in the Southern Ocean were practically abandoned to the French and American interests. “On outward journeys many American whaling ships brought cargoes of ‘Yankee notions’ with which to barter with the Maori for food while operating off the New Zealand coasts.

SPANISH DOLLARS

“One of the principal guides to the dominance of America trade and in lluence is to be found in the fact that when British sovereignty was declared in 1840, Governor Hobson and succeeding Governors were compelled to declare that the coinage of U.S.A.—and of France, Spain, the East India Company and the South American States—would continue to be the currency of the colony, and the Blue Books of the ’forties show these gold and silver coins listed, with their sterling equivalents, as the legal coinage of New Zealand, circulating concurrently with the less plentiful British coins. The American and Spanish silver dollars predominated. The Spanish golden doubloons — reminiscent of treasure-trove days—were officially listed by Governor Hobson to pass in New Zealand for £3 4s. The early Maori synonym for silver money was ‘moni torra’ and for gold ‘moni koura.’ Values were often discussed in terms of ‘torras,’ even when golden sovereigns were passed. “The early Maori frequently valued coins for their decorative value and many American silver dollars were exchanged for the smaller and duller golden coins, to the complete satisfaction of both parties. But when the Maori ‘got his coins right’ there was no more astute merchant than this erstwhile cannibal. When whaling vessels did not carry trade goods for bartering with the Maori, money had to suffice. At the outset the Maori got rid of his coins by purchasing anything from subsequent visitors, but later found that these visible riches, in the shape of goods, were an embarrassment in view of the Maori custom of communal ownership. In order to avoid sharing their property with others, in accordance with the correct custom, some of the more astute natives began to prefer money—coins—which they could conceal under their blanket capes and spend at leisure with the smug satisfaction of a Wall Street capitalist.

GOLDEN EAGLES

“In some old hoards of coins found in New Zealand, early issues of United States coins, as well as coins of other countries, have been discovered, and occasionally golden eagles of U.S.A. have been uncovered by the waves at the sites of early whaling bases iri New Zealand where the seamen of all nationalities often foregathered—mostly in rum-drinking carousals —prior to the advent of British sovereignty. The American influence at the Bay of Islands is reflected in the fact that Mr J. E. Clendon, a wealthy British trader and shipowner, acted as the first Consul for the United States of America at the Bay of Islands, from 1938 to 1842. “Sailors of the United States Navy have successively ‘invaded’ New Zealand shores, first in 1908, when a medal was struck to commemorate the event. In 1925, a much augmented American fleet again ‘invaded’ the country, and this time left behind many souvenirs, including golden sovereigns said to have been specially struck in Australia from bar gold brought with the fleet. This was the first and last occasion when gold coins freely, but temporarily, circulated in New Zealand since the Great War. “Captain Cook, who rediscovered New Zealand in 1797, is buried on American soil at Hawaii, and coins and medals commemorating his name add to the numismatic links between the two countries. Although New Zealand is indissolubly bound to Great Britain, the United States, which is closer geographically, also shares with New Zealand a common heritage of birth, ideals and language. Steadily and imperceptibly America is spreading her influence in Australia and New Zealand, and is likely soon to become a more dominant influence in the great commonwealth of Western democracies. The present war is not only welding parts of the British Empire more closely together, but is also influencing closer adherence between Great Britain and the United States. “Canada and U.S.A. already share a common language and similar currency and trading methods. If prophecies regarding a complete union between U.S.A. and Great Britain were fulfilled, this would bring interesting posibilities in its train in unifying customs, tariffs.and currency. If this did not eventuate, but if the financial centre of the Empire were transferred to Canada, the dollar instead of the

pound would probably become the Empire unit of value. “Dollars were used as supplementary coins in both England and New ♦Zealand a hundred years ago, and. with the march of events. New Zealand is seeing the dollar again, this time not as a coin of expediency, but rather as a symbol of the union and strength of democracy.”