ENGLISH BANKNOTES

New Zealand Herald, Volume 81, Issue 25086, 27 December 1944, Page 6

ENGLISH BANKNOTES

; SALES AT HALF VALUE BLACK MARKET FEARS I LONDON, Dec. 25 Bank of England notes of £IOOO are •being sold for £SOO, and £IOO notes are being sold for half their face value, according to the Sunday Dispatch. This collapse in the value of big banknotes, according to tho paper, is due to the fear that the Treasury, through the Bank of England, is about ! to launch an intensified campaign to get at the hidden cash fortunes of black I market operators. The Chancellor of tho Exchequer, Sir John Anderson, rejected a proposal that all banknotes from 10s upward should ■ he withdrawn, but ho has not rejected a proposal that notes of £lO and more i should bo withdrawn and invalidated after a certain date.

The Bank of England lias already stopped the issue and reissue of all notes of £lO and upward. This means that, ■when a big note reaches the bank, it Is held and a new note is not issued in its place. Already half the-number originally issued have been scrapped. These regulations have not stopped black marketing, but most persons engaged in the black market now deal only in £1 notes.

The paper adds: "Tho calling in of all banknotes in Belgium was successful in rendering useless the fortune of black marketers, but the Chancellor of tho Exchequer does not consider such a 6tep necessary in Britain."

AIR IMPROVEMENTS

' GLIDERS AND FORTRESSES LONDON, Dec. 25 American air force authorities announce that they are strengthening tho ! noses of cargo gliders and equipping Flying Fortresses with special electric regulators to control automatically fuel pressures. i The authorities are altering the gliders as the result of the lessons learned ! from the airborne invasion of Holland. | Thev are reinforcing the noses with crash bars to make piloting less datiger- ! ous. Gliders with reinforced noses do j not collapse after landing. Thereforo they can oe used for moro than a single i (mission. Flying Fortress pilots, who are already overworked, have hitherto been ! forced to control by manual methods fuel pressure on each of their four ' Engines. TRIAL IN ROME [ MUSSOLINI'S MISTRESS LONDON, Dec. 23 Cornelia Tanzi, poetess, dancer, and tone-time mistress of Mussolini, appeared Ifor trial in Rome's Palace of Justice for alleged treason and collaboration !with the Germans.

The public prosecutor demanded that ihe be sentenced to 30 years' imprisonment.

"Poetess Tanzi," ho declaimed, "if fell Italian women had felt like you our pountry would indeed be unfortunate." The poetess interrupted the proceedings excitedly several times, especially w]ion the prosecutor, accusing her of now repudiating Mussolini, suggested that this lack of gratitude was possibly merely in keeping with complaints she had made years ago, when she found ithat Mussolini had begun to prefer another woman.

TERROR WEAPONS ' R/IEWS OF. TROOPS IN LINE ' LONDON, Doc. 23 | "Allied troops now being pounded iby Hitler's V weapons know that Ger- ! man 'secret weapons' cannot be dis- , (missed with a shrug," says a correspondent with the United States Ninth 1 Army.

"The argument that such weapons tare indiscriminate does not impress the man in a foxhole, who may stop anything from a machine-gun bullet to a 14-ton rocket. "Both the American and British rear areas during recent weeks have been attacked with flying bombs, rocket shells, and the latest V weapon, which ihas been likened to heavy artillery. Tho men who hear some of these droning overhead would very much like to hear Jthem going the other way." [ GREAT FORTITUDE SYDNEY, Deo. 26 With his right hand almost severed at the wrist, Jack Silkman, aged 22, of Belmore, walked a quarter of a mile to a police call box, where a message was gent for aid. Silkman, a former soldier who served in New Guinea, was struck by an electric train_ near Belmore station. As he ifell his right hand was caught by one <of the wheels of ths train.

Although in intense pain, he unlaced pne of his shoes and with a stick improvised a ligature. He then walked ' across_ Belmore Park, and a man who eaw his plight rang tho police from the •call box. He was rushed to tho district hospital, where his hand had to bo amputated. IJ £40,000 WHEAT FIRE SYDNEY, Dec. 20 Members of tho Wheat Board and fire assessors inspected tho damage caused by a fire which destroyed 80,000 hags of wheat besido the mill of James Xoneragan Milling Co, at Gulgong. It is estimated that tho damage to the wheat and buildings will amount to more than £40,000. The cause of the fire is unknown, but it has been suggested that it may havo started spontaneously. [AIDING THE DISFIGURED LONDON, Dec. 23 British chemical scientists havo deVised a new method of disguising facial and other injuries. Artificial facial soctions, noses, ears, fingers and thumbs are evolved in tho laboratories of Imperial Chemical Industries from a composition that is used for sheathing of insulation cables and proofing of fabrics. _ These false features are a psycholoIJical aid to the recovery of patients +u gcia ® a ng S(, "es of operations removal of disfigurement. Life i B on s ad VT ro tolerable for perL ■