WAR TIME COINAGE.

New Zealand Herald, Volume LIII, Issue 16169, 4 March 1916, Page 2 (Supplement)

WAR TIME COINAGE.

RUSSIA'S ,USE OF STAMPS. IRON MONEY IN GERMANY. Some quaint forms of money have come into existence during tho war, owing to tho shortage of gold. Britain introduced tho £1 and 10s Treasury notes, but othor countries have been far more original in their makeshift arrangements at the 1 mints. ' j In their annual bullion report Messrs. [Samuel Montagu and Co. tell how Russia, I in order to overcome the difficulty of providing small change, has printed the designs of the 10, 15, and 20-kopek denominations of tho Romanoff Jubilee j postage stamp issue upon thick papqr, .and, by lettering on the reverse side, has i authorised them to bo used as currency ; with tho same legal tender as silver subsidiary money. I Iron money was put into circulation ly Germany on October 1. Tho Federal Council decided that the issue should be withdrawn two years after the cessation of hostilities. A hundred million of 5I pfenning pieces was the authorised extent of tho issue. Caroline Islands Stone Wheels. The Caroline Islands, which passed from Spanish to German sovereignty after tho American war by purchase, and now into the possession of Great Britain by capture, comprise an island called Uap, where stone money called "fei'' is used as the medium of exchange. It consists of large, solid, thick stone wheels, ranging in diameter from ono to twelve feeL having a central holo through which a pole can be inserted so as to convert the mass into "currency." The value represented by tho stono increases with its size, and the limestone, ol which the "fei" is composed, must be of fine white grain to bo considered good •delivery. Yet there seems to bo no real necessity for delivery at all, for it is quite customary to earmark the money, as it were, and leave it in its old position ontsido the first owner's hut, an excellent provision, considering tho business of the material. Makeshifts in Mexico. The disappearance of small metallic currency in Mexico, owing to the amount of paper money put into circulation during the military struggle for the Presidency of the Republic, caused various expedients to be adopted. Tramcav tickets have been usod for small change, and cardboard money, about one inch by two inches in size, good for five to ten and twenty centavos, was issued by different leaders. With regard to the output of gold in 1915, the letter says that in view of the improved output from the Transvaal and other African districts, the world's production is likely to be about £98,000,000. About two-thirds of tho world's gold supplies are derived annually from the British Empire, and. roughly, £60,000,000 is thus added automatically to the gold resources of the Empire.