Pay In Sterling Or

Australian?

Problem In The Solomons

ORBSENT and pas*t officials of the Solo -*■ mon Islands administration are displaying a lively interest in the an nouncement that the Solomon Islands administration will now accept Austra lian currency as its monetary system.

A King’s Regulation recently issued by

the High Commissioner for the Western Pacific (Sir Arthur Richards) stated that Australian bank notes and Australian and English coins will be the only legal tender in the Protectorate after Septem ber 25. The Regulation also provided for imprisonment not exceeding five years for forgery, uttering, and receiving.

Hitherto, the currency conditions in the British Solomon Islands have been complex. The majority of officials there have been transferred from other British Crown Colonies, and are accustomed to being paid in sterling. Many years ago, for its own convenience, the Administra tion created its own currency—£l, 10/and 5/- notes, etc. Then, as most 8.5.1. trade Is with Australia, Australian cur rency was freely used. There were no difficulties while Australian currency was on par with sterling, but since Aus tralian currency went 25 per cent under sterling there has been endless confusion.

The 8.5.1. currency should be on par with sterling, but actually it is on par with Australian. Meanwhile 8.5.1. public servants, to their endless discontent have been paid mostly in 8.5.1. currency.

Under the new arrangement 8.5.1. offi cials (and, of course, ex-officials, or pen sioners) hope to receive payment, not in Australian currency, but in sterling.

Presumably, as officials of the British Colonial Service, they are entitled to sterling, but, if they get it, there will be trouble in other Pacific territories under the High Commission. Fiji offi cials, for instance, will ask why they have been paid in Fiji currency (which is 12| per cent under sterling) instead of sterling.

It was a poet who said that money is a curse; but the remark is heartily en dorsed nowadays by sundry Colonial Administrators.

Mr. A. Mackenzie, newly appointed

Director of Education in Samoa, arrived

at Apia by the April Matua.