BURDENED WITH SILVER

Taranaki Daily News, 13 January 1932, Page 9

BURDENED WITH SILVER

EXPERIENCE IN MEXICO. GOLD MONEY NOT ACCEPTABLE. The action of the Mexican Government in declaring silver the only legal tender for the purchase of goods had some curious consequences. Mr. Robert Bell, of Christchurch, who returned to Auckland on Monday after presiding at it regional session of the World Press Congress in Mexico City, recounted some of the difficulties he experienced in persuading the Mexicans to accept b “When I first entered the country 1 was not aware of the Government’s enactment,” he said, “and, being desirous of changing a few dollar bills into Mexican currency, I went to an American money changer on the El Paso railway station to convert them for use on the two days’ journey to Mexico City. In exchange, the wiily American gave me gold. After the first meal on the train I tendered a gold piece in payment. The waiter expressed surprise and told me he could not accept gold, as silver was the only recognised coinage. As a favour, he exchanged, my o-old for silver. On both transactions, needless to say, I suffered the penalty of ignorance.’’ On another occasion Mr. Bell changed a hundred dollar American bill for pesos. The teller passed through, the grille a large wooden tray containing 340 pesos. “Now a peso is larger and heavier than a British half-crown, said Mr. Bell, “and I was perplexed as to how f would stow away on my person this quantity and weight of coins. Seeing mv perplexity, the teller offered to sell me a bag for oO centavos to carry them in. I accepted, tipped the 340 nieces of silver into the bag, and found it so heavy that it nearly bore me down. Struggling to the door, I hailed a taxi and was driven to my hotel, where I secreted the treasure among my luggage under lock and key.” Mexico, said Mr. Bell, was a much misunderstood country, usually associated with disorder and revolution, but whatever the conditions might have been in the past, it was certain that for the last few years, especially during the term of office of the late Mr. Dwight Morrow, American Ambassador in Mexico, those conditions had not only not obtained, but a state of peaceful pui - suit of the ordinary business of life bad prevailed. “During my brief visit—a fortnight—l can truly affirm that the country was as quiet and peaceful as Cathedral Square, Christchurch, on a Sunday morning,” added Mr. Bell. The recent deportation of the Chinese colonies in the two western Mexican •States, Sonora and Sinaloa, greatly interested Mr. Bell. The Chinese had been engaged in the wholesale and retail grocery and merchandising business, in which they prospered at the expense of their Mexican competitors. Many Mexican businesses were ruined, and it was charged against the Chinese that not only did they garner large profits, but also that they sent their accumulated wealth to their own country, thus depleting the Mexican monetary stocks. A Nationalist campaign was inaugurated against them and the Mexican Government was forced to accede to a popular demand for their deportation.