No Change !
p. 43 · Read in the full issue
Penny Famine in Fiji
THE recent arrival of a consignment of Fiji pennies and halfpennies from England has ended a situation both inconvenient and embarrassing to Suva business-people—for a couple of months now Fiji has suffered from an acute shortage of pennies.
In an attempt to relieve the change famine, the Government was forced to make English bronze pennies legal tender for amounts under 1- and to authorise the Bank of NSW to put English three pences into circulation.
Fiji has her own coinage—florins, shil lings, sixpences, pennies and halfpennies.
There is no threepenny piece—a sore point with local shop-keepers, who for a long time have sought to re-introduce the 3d.
To a large extent the shortage of pennies was caused by New Zealanders taking them out of the Colony, as sou venirs and for use as poker chips. Unlike the bronze NZ coins, Fijian pennies are made of a silver alloy and have a hole through the centre.