The Editors' Mailbag

He Remembers That

Catty Flight

Mr. Angus B. Wilson, now with Tasmania Industrial Development Branch, asks us for extra copies of the February issue because of his interest in the article on the late Harold Gatty’s memorial (for more news see p. 57 of this issue).

The memorial will shortly be un veiled at Campbell Town by the Tasmanian Deputy Premier.

Mr. Wilson adds: “As I was as sociated with Harold Gatty many years ago I have been interested in the erection of the memorial. Until 1 retired recently I was general manager for Vacuum Oil in Tas mania. When the epic flight around the world was made I was in our Melbourne head office, watching the daily progress of these two intrepid aviation pioneers, by means of sporadic messages from their refuel ling and check points.”

Pillar Dollars Averted

First Currency Crisis

In an article about the wreck of the Eliza on a Fiji reef in 1797 (January PIM ), R. W. Robson asked what was a “Pillar Dollar” —something with which the Eliza was equipped to the tune of 30,000.

The answer comes from Mr. Syd ney V. Hagley, who has a lot of Interesting things to say about these large, silver coins.

They got their name from the Pillars of Hercules —the name for the closest points on the Spanish and African mainlands (the Straits of Gibraltar, of course, being m be tween) . The Pillars of Hercules were shown on the reverse of each dollar. .„ These Spanish “pieces of eight were, says Mr, Hagley, the only acceptable international currency of the period and large sums in them were carried on all trading ships— so the 30,000 coins that Eliza carried would not have been considsred out of the ordinary. There were no banks in the South Pacific at that time; ships had to be their own dollars were basic currency in NSW in the early days of that Colony and were used to buy goods from the trading ships that came to Sydney. And, as a result of this, probably the first case of Australia s “overseas balances” running down happened in Governor Macquarie s keep the dollars in the Colony, he punched a “dump” out of the centre. The dump itself was valued at 15 pence while the Holey

Dollar” retained its usual inter national value of 5/-.

Apart from the fact that Gov ernor Macquarie was thus turning 5/- coins into something worth 6/3 (the first devaluation of Australian currency?) they were not acceptable to ships’ captains in their holey state as they would have been use less for trade elsewhere.

The business of cutting the dump out of the dollar saved the currency problem in New South Wales for about 10 years—until, in fact, the effect of the 1816 minting of coins of large denomination in England had percolated through to the Colony.

Apart from an issue of shillings and sixpences, there were no silver coins struck in England between 1787 and 1816.

Copra In Out Of

The Wet

There are fancier kinds of copra driers, of course, but the one in the accompanying picture does turn out “smoke” grade copra to the satisfaction of the owners.

What’s unusual about it, apart from being made of large boulders, is that it is built in a cave —a fact that is not entirely clear from the photograph.

The drier is on the boundary of Devo Estate, Vanua Levu, Fiji, where it was photographed by Mr. W. S.

Stevenson of the Fiji Loans Board.

Our information comes from Mr.

B. W. Kesteven, of Devo Estat who adds at the end of his lette: “I am an avid reader of PIl though not a subscriber to it. Oi of my friends gets it and we swap A statement, we might say, thi while giving considerable pleasui to the editors is guaranteed make any self-respecting circulate department spit tacks.

Object Lesson

A Noumea reader asks us to plea report, as an object lesson f tourists, the fact that in New Cal donia in February a car driven an Australian and another driv by a New Caledonian collided. Poli said the Australian was driving ■ the left-hand side, which happe to be the wrong side in Freni Territories. Righto.

The copra drier in a cave.