IMPORTANT TRIFLES

Patea Mail, 12 May 1941, Page 2

IMPORTANT TRIFLES

It was stated with indignation in a -newspaper .recently that the Ministry of Food was actually haggling about a sum which would not represent more than a farthing on a two-pound pot of marmalade, - says a ‘ ‘ Manchester Guardian. ” It does sound rather trifling, put in that way, but one is reminded of the first Lord Eothschild and a discussion which had been going on at the time about the relative values of those beautiful coins—alas! apparently not to tie seen again by the ordinary citizen —the' English and the Australian sovereigns. The point at issue was that the. Australian sovereign then represented a value greater by a halfpenny than the English coin. A young man who had been listening to the discussion present expressed some contempt. Rising to go, he said, “And all this talk about a wretched halfpenny!” .There was a slight pause and then Lord Eothschild remarked gently, “Do you know, I don’t fancy that young gentleman can have had much to. ( do with large financial transactions.”