ABYSSINIAN CURRENCY

Waikato Times, Volume 118, Issue 19664, 26 August 1935, Page 4

ABYSSINIAN CURRENCY

ITALIAN MONOPOLY. BOUGHT THREE YEARS AGO. (From a Correspondent.) VIENNA, July 12. The Ethiopian crisis has drawn attention to the interesting fact that an Italian bank holds the monopoly of supplying Abyssinia With Its'currency, writes the Vienna correspondent of the London Observer. Actually, the Abyssinian talari are the well-known Marla Theresa thalers which for a century and a half were minted in the Austrian mint. They are huge coins, as big as the old English crowns, and bear on one side the portrait of the Austrian Empress Marla Theresa (who ruled from 1740-1780) and the date 1780, while on the reverse side they have tile Austrian double-headed eagle. These Maria Theresa thalers circulate both in Abyssinia and in many other parts of North-Eastern Africa and Arabia. The value of a'thaler is about two English gold shillings. Although oilier nations tried to oust the "talari” from North-Eastern Africa by introducing rupees and other silver coins, the Abyssinians stuck to their traditional Maria Theresa coins. Throe years ago a group, in which a well-known British metal firm was represented, obtained the monopoly of buying all the thalers from the Vienna' mint. Shortly afterwards this group sold its rights to a large Italian bank, which now. has the sale of thalers in North-Eastern Africa under its control. It is obvious that this might have considerable political importance.

An interesting point Is that no exports of Marla Theresa thalers appeared In, the statistics during the past two years. The explanation may be that Italy sent the necessary sliver to Austria, minted the thalers at the Vienna mint, and that the silver then left the country.