tions: Mainly Money
p. 55 · Read in the full issue
Some Pacific Observa tions: Mainly Money and Exchange
By M. W. von Bemewitz.
POSSIBLY readers of the “Pacific Islands Monthly” know all concerning what I am about to write. But this is how it is between Sydney and Pago Pago: Australian silver is accepted in New Zealand, but the exchange is 6d on the pound note. New Zealand notes are filthy bits of rag, but worth having.
New Zealand now has its own silver coins, as follows: Half-crown (this should not have been revived), with the Dominion coat-of-arms on the reverse to the King’s bust; florin, with kiwi, the tailless and wingless bird prodding the ground; shil ling, with Maori warrior with spear couchant; sixpence, with the melodious tui or parson bird; and threepence, with a pair of crossed Maori clubs, facetiously described by someone as two legs of mut ton.
However, the designs are characteristic of the country. They “ring” true. So that they will not become current in Australia, the banks will collect and return them to New Zealand.
As in Australia, the price of sugar in New Zealand is too high. Within recent weeks it has been reduced and then raised.
Some discussion has been running in “The New Zealand Free Lance” (Welling ton) on the carriage of bananas —should they be on the stalk or in crates?
Fiji also has its new coinage, and neither Australian nor New Zealand silver is ac cepted unless exchange, at the rate of 2/6 on the pound is paid. The Post Office will not take it at all. The Fiji coins are: Florin, with coat-of-arms on reverse to King’s bust; shilling, with native sailing canoe; and sixpence, with turtle. There isn’t any threepence, the English coin with the acorns and oak leaves being current.
The penny is of nickel and has a hole in the centre.
Oranges are being packed on the wharf at Suva, for New Zealand. Bananas ap pear to be scarce, but pineapples are fairly plentiful.
Burns, Philp and Company are making changes in their big Suva warehouse.
A sign of Fiji mining development is a window in a large chemist’s shop in Suva dressed with chemicals, a balance, clay and graphite crucibles.
Samoan (Pago Pago) exchange is four dollars for the Australian pound, the American rate.
Copra at such a low price must be dis heartening to the owners of the extensive plantation on Niaufou Island, Tonga Group. The coconut palms grow from the sea to the rim of the crater. Large nuts are the rule here.