NEW BANKNOTES

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXXI, Issue 21880, 16 August 1934, Page 12

NEW BANKNOTES

REPLACING OLD ISSUES NOVELTY OF CLEANLINESS OPPORTUNITY FOR FUTURE Although in the two weeks that the Reserve Bank notes have boon in "circulation the novelty of handling notes of a new design has worn off, it is still a decided novelty to have clean and crackling paper money. For a long .time the public had been used to limp and dii>ty notes, some of which were in such a state of deterioration as to be anything but a credit to any community. The life of a banknote cannot be foretold with any great degree of exactitude, as the hazards of circulation are many, but New Zealanders have learned by experience that nothing can cling to life so tenaciously as a banknote, not even a cat with its proverbial nine lives. The hope is general that the Reserve Bank will not impose such a strain upon the constitution of its notes as did the trading banks, but that it will retire them early and keep the issue as fresh and clean as possible.

A study of the existing paper currency of the United States was undertaken by the Bureau of Efficiency in 1925 at the request of the Treasury Department. Estimates placed the life of the most popular note in circulation, the dollar bill, at eight months, while the cause of damage by wear was attributed chiefly to folding. It is inevitable that banknotes be folded for convenience of carrying in the pocket or "purse, and they must be expected to undergo fairly rigorous treatment in other respects, but they should not be kept in circulation merely because of physical stamina after they are obviously no longer fit for circulation. This would appear to have been recognised in Britain, to quote only one instanco, where the familiar "Bradburys" maintained their spic and span appearance almost undimmed. An examination of an old New Zealand note, carried, out in Auckland, showed the potentialities of a soiled banknote for carrying germs of disease. While no dangerous diseaso bacteria were found on tho one note examined, germs associated with the human mouth were present, indicating tho application of a moistened finger in counting. In the interests of health, therefore, as well as in a desire to save the public from the real unpleasantness of handling dirty notes, the Reserve Bank has an opportunity, of accomplishing a desirable reform. By renewing its notes as soon as they become, unduly soiled, with particular attention to those of the lower denominations which circulate more freely, it can do something to make even the paying of taxes a more pleasant operation.