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Of one thing I am pretty certain that the various charities throughout the country would reap a great benefit if the time limit on the life of a postal order were removed. Many people would keep a small stock by them for charitable purposes. You get an appeal at the breakfast table, your sympathies are stirred, but the amount you can afford is too small for a cheque. You put the letter on one side till you can get a postal order; other things come in the way it is forgotten. A few days after the appeal goes into the waste-paper basket, whereas if you could have popped a shilling or half-crown order in an envelope at once, you would willingly have done so, but the fear of the orders running out of date before you want to use them, deters you from keeping a stock.

Countermarked

On a previous occasion we went into the subject of the great scarcity of silver coins from 1797 to 1817. Dollars. I gave several illustrations showing the uses made of the Spanish dollar by country bankers and tradesmen. A full account of the use the Bank of England made of the coin will be found in my "Token Money of the Bank of England." I now wish to show how manufacturers in England, Ireland, and Scotland made use of the Spanish dollar by countermarking.

My illustrations and much of my information are taken from an exhaustive and exquisitely illustrated work on countermarking by Julius Meili, of Zurich. I was most fortunate in getting a copy from the author in exchange for my own history of banking in the North of England. The coins now described are numbered 17 to 51 and 57 to 61, on pages 240-2, with a key to the names on page 232.

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17. Adelphi Cotton Works.

18. Ballindalloch Cotton Works

19. R. & G. Blair, Greenock

20. Payable at Castle Comer Colliery

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The writer says: "I am indebted to Mr. J. G. Robertson, of Kilkenny, for the following account of this countermarked "dollar":

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"Anne, Countess of Ormond, not wishing to lose by the depreciated value of Spanish dollars, of which she had at that "time a large number, caused all she had to be stamped as the "above. Coals to that amount being given for them at the pits,

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they were readily taken by the Kilkenny traders.

21. Catrine Cotton Works

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"These were issued by Messrs. Arkwright, millowners and "bankers, who held the whole freehold of Cromford. As they were issued at four shillings and ninepence, they must have "been circulated about the year 1803; very shortly after that "date the dollar was worth intrinsically five shillings.

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42. This is in the British Museum, presented by Miss

Bankes. In the MS. catalogue it is said to

have been issued from Revolution Mill, East
Retford.

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51. (Five Franc) Payable at Dalzell Farm.

57. Payable at Alloa Colliery

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59. Payable at Lanark Mills

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60. J. Muir, Paisley

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61. Thistle Bank

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It will be noted that the dollar was in some cases cut into fractional parts. In England it was often cut into quarters, which were freely accepted until it was found that some genius was making five quarters out of his dollars.

Bank of New
South Wales.

One of the very few joint stock establishments that have shown any interest in their ancient history is the "Bank of New South Wales." In 1907 they issued a handsome quarto volume, giving a short history of the bank from 1817 to 1907. There are also photographs of the first gold and silver coins used, of their early notes, and nearly 500 illustrations of the premises they have occupied. The book was only printed for private circulation, but knowing the interest I have taken in such matters, Mr. David George, the London manager, most courteously presented me with a copy on publication, a compliment I can assure you I highly appreciated. The writer of the introductory chapter, when speaking of the Botany Bay settlement, says:

Barter.

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"The primitive method of barter, mostly through "the medium of spirituous liquors, supplied the wants of the people. On the occasion of the performance of the first play, on the 16th of January, 1796, it was publicly announced that the price of admission was one shilling, paid in meal or rum taken at the door."

The custom of barter has not yet died out. Not many years ago a French singer of great repute gave a concert in the Society Islands, the arrangement being that she was to receive half the proceeds. Imagine her astonishment when she was handed-no, introduced to-3 pigs, 23 turkeys, 43 chickens, 5,000 cocoanuts, besides bananas, lemons, and oranges innumerable. She had to use the fruit to feed the pigs and poultry until she could find a suitable market for her treasures.

The notes that the Bank of New South Wales used Dollar Notes. in its early days are all quoted in Spanish dollars in sums varying from one to two hundred. The following gold and silver coins were in use, the relative value of which "Governor Hunter," in the year 1800, proclaimed as follows:

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"Dump."

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Subsequently, when the metallic value of the dollar rose over the face value the Holey dollar" and dump" were introduced. The dump" (about the size of an English farthing) was punched out of the centre of the dollar, and made into a separate coin for fifteen pence, the Holey dollar" retaining its full value of five shillings. The examples in my collection are dated 1813.*

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Some of the branches are most handsome buildings, others again were very primitive. That of Georgetown, opened in 1872, is a fair example of the latter kind. The "Bullion smelting room," and "Bullion Assay Office," at headquarters, show an up-to-dateness difficult to beat. Too much praise cannot be given to this delightful book. Oh, that other banks would follow such a lead!

In my "History of Banks, Bankers, and Banking," Ranson Note. I treat pretty fully of the great difficulties the Bank of England had to contend with, owing to the constant forgery of their £1 and £2 notes. They received many wellmeant suggestions from various engravers and others. Mr. Ranson, one of the first designers of his day, gave his plan. "consists essentially of a combination of the efforts of men of acknowledged ability in the art of engraving in the usual mode "and in relief." The note now shown was submitted. It is an exquisite piece of workmanship. The centre picture is from a design painted expressly for the purpose by J. Thurston, the engraving being by Ranson, Lambert, and others. High as Ranson stood in the art world, it was from a fight with the Bank of England in 1818 that he became more widely known. Ranson, in the course of business, paid a £1 note to Mr. Mitchener, who kept the "Hole-in-the-Wall" in Fleet Street. The note, when paid by him into the Bank of England, was pronounced a forgery, and retained by the bank as such. Mitchener then applied to Ranson for payment, which the engraver refused, unless he returned the note. Mitchener summoned Ranson to the Court of Conscience, when Mr. Fish, an official of the Bank, produced the note. Ranson asked to look at it, and then coolly put it into his pocket. The magistrate was appealed to, but said he had no power to interfere. Ranson then went to Mitchener's and gave him 20s. The Bank could not stand such proceedings, and summoned Ranson for being in possession of a £1 note knowing it to be forged. Ranson refused to give up the note and was committed to Cold Bath Fields prison for some days, subsequently he was let out on bail. Then came Ranson's turn. He commenced an action against Fish, the Bank official, for false imprisonment, and called witnesses who proved the note to be a good one. Ranson was awarded £100 damages. During his confinement Ranson made a drawing of the interior of Cold Bath Fields Prison, which he dedicated "without permission to the Governor and Company "of the Threadneedle Street Paper Establishment."

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* For full particulars and illustrations see "Token Money of the Bank of England," by Maberly Phillips, F.S.A.

Our Secretary has kindly drawn my attention to this rare print, which has recently been presented to our note collection. In his interesting inaugural address our President remarked upon the growing use of the cheque, and the consequent decline of the use of notes by the ordinary public. May I be permitted to endorse his remarks. For very many years in private life I have never handled a bank-note, and since my retirement I have never seen one. In the present day any man with a balance at his bankers, a few sovereigns in his pocket, and his cheque book, could easily make his way round the world.

While speaking of cheques, it may be interesting Crossed to record how and why a banker is justified in refusing to pay in cash a crossed cheque. In 1856

Cheques.

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useful Bill (which subsequently became law) was brought in by Mr. Apsley Pellatt, Member for Southwark, to legalise the crossing" of cheques. This had been the custom for some time, but a recent decision of Lord Campbell's had thrown doubt upon a banker's right to decline to pay a cheque to bearer, although it was crossed. On introducing a second reading of the Bill, Mr. Pellatt said he understood that the system of crossed cheques arose in this way:

"A gang of swindlers paid into a bank some bills due on a "certain day, at a certain house. When the banker's clerk pre"sented himself, they seized him, tied him up, took away all his

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bills, went round with them to the different bankers, and then "left the town with their booty. The system of crossed cheques was adopted in order to prevent the repetition of such whole"sale robbery." Many probably will remember the story of the lady who presented a crossed cheque for payment and was politely told by the cashier that, being crossed, he was sorry he could not pay it across the counter. "Oh, never mind," replied the lady, "I can easily come round to the other side."

Joint Stock

In 1836 quite a mania arose for establishing every conceivable kind of business upon the joint stock Undertakings. principle. The maddest schemes were proposed, huge dividends promised, and speculation ran wild with both men and women. Shares were bought at a premium, resold to some poor dupe at a still higher price, until the whole thing exploded. That wonderful caricaturist, Rowlandson, brought out some of his clever sheets, now so sought after by collectors. The one shown

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