COMMONWEALTH COINS.

Star (Christchurch), Issue 10197, 5 July 1911, Page 1

COMMONWEALTH COINS.

A NUISANCE IN NEW ZEALAND. GOVERNMENT ACTION CALLED FOR. [From Oup. Corresponubxt.] AUCKLAND. July 4. There is a certain amount ol bitter among the sweet reminiscences left in Auckland by the Sheffield Ciioir, inasmuch as the tourists circulated a number of the new Australian silver coins, of which they became possessed while in Sydney. These coins are almost replicas of the ordinary English minted silver, the only difference being that the tail of tho coin bears a representation of the kangaroo and the emu instead of -tbe British design. These kangaroo coins are very pretty and curious, but in New Zealand they do not enhance the value of the church collection, because the banks do not accept them, and they consequently have no money value. Hitherto it has been the tram ticket collector who has suffered most from the new invasion, because' the tram company, being unable to bank here the money from the Sydney mint, refuses to accept it from the collectors, who are consequently out of pocket. The silver coins of Australia have been only recently issued, and the vexations and loss their circulation in New Zealand has caused have been up to date but small, but with the large passenger traffic between Australia and New Zealand and the increased issue of the new money these vexations must naturally increase in all branches of trade until they become unbearable. At present those- who have inadvertently allowed their pockets to harbour the kangaroo coins have a chance of getting their own back by seeking out persons who arc going back to Australia, and going through the Aladdin-like performance of offering new coins for old, but this is a troublesome method or exchange.

Inquiry was made on the point this morning by a reporter, who was informed that a very small percentage of the Australian silver had managed to pass th bank tellers and get over the. counter into the coffers. Asked why the banks did not accept tho money, a banker stated that under the existing law a bank, if it accepted Australian silver, would have to bear the expouso of sending it back to the mint in Australia. ; ' It's ridiculous," he continued, " for Australia to have a separate silver mintage at all. if every country in the Empire did the same you would have all sorts of difficulties respecting the means of exchange." He added that a real difficulty now existed respecting the circulation of Australian silver in New Zealand, and the difficulty would gradually increase, and greatly harass shopkeepers unless the Government did something in the matter. There were two ways of getting over the situation. The Government could make arrangements with the Australian Government to bear the expense of carrying the money back to tho .Australian mint, in which case tho banks hero would be in a position to accept the Australian coins. Tho alternative was for the- Government to arrange for a- share of tho profit from tho Australian mint, shut out Imperial coins, and circulate only the silver minted in Australia. ' ; Tt's certainly time the Government did something," ho continued. "It is most irritating to tourists to have tho two sorts of coins in circulation in the two adjacent countries, as well as harassing to the tradespeople, and in view of the revenue drawn from the tourist traffic it is most impolitic to have conditions operating which irritate the thousands of casual visitors that travel throusrh the dominion."