RETURN TO POPULARITY

Bay of Plenty Beacon, Volume 4, Issue 117, 16 June 1941, Page 5

RETURN TO POPULARITY

THE SCORNED HA'PENNY BUT DON'T HOARD THEM j 7 (By Unome) Once upon a time thy half-penny was the joy of life to many a small child. When little Douglas or Johnnie had been a good little boy, which probably Avas seldom, father or mother came to light Avitli a shinv half-penny Avitii which he could buy many and varied delights. But. years rolled on since then and modern child greAV to scorn anything other than silver —and besides a ha'penny is not enough. In those latter days the poor little coin faded into oblivion Avitli its young brother—the farthing. It Avas rarely seen except in collections of ancient coins or, in quotations, making a good price or a bad price (mostly bad according to farmers) for butterfat or wool. However, with the advent of Wally Nash the ha'penny once more came light in amongst the many other neAV ideas which hadn't worked anywhere else in the world, but still had to be tried in this country. When fixing the Guaranteed Price he popularised the halfpenny (or did he unpopularise it). Hitherto it Avas rather cheap to deal in less than pennies, but he felt probably that if he made the price a halfpenny less then the farmers Avould groAvl. Knowing, that they hated groAA'ling and were always so cheerful he did not knoAv Avliat to do, because if he tnade it equal numbers the other way he felt sure that they Avould be upset at robbing the and Avould refuse to talig it. So he split the difference and, like the Prince of Wales popularising the straAA r hat and the soft dinner shirt, thus did our Wally bring the ha'penny to the fore. Noav that's jr.st the trouble. The Price Tribunal, which Avas set up to mess up business in general, caught on, and, ha\ r ing nothing else to do, started changing prices of things every Aveek or so. And iioav A\ T e can't buy a blooming thing Avithout it's a ha'penny one avs.v or the other. And this is where we come to the real purpose of this outstanding article (tut, tut, pobody said Avhat It was outstanding for). Some people receive these halfpennies in change, but they don't put them back in circulation again. Then the storekeeper has none for change and has to toss "a penny or nothing," which is bad for the morale of the population together with bookmakers, art unions and tAVO-uj) schools. Besides I ! alAvays lose. And Avhen the storekeeper has none the banks get short, and everyone is short except the person hoarding these halfpennies. Probably some farmer trying to get enough to build a memorial of Wally Nash and the Guaranteed Not Einough Price is hoarding them, or again, someone in the autumn of his years fondles them with eyes dimming in cherished memories of youth. Noaa' come across you hoarders! A bloke can't keep on paying 3d when the price for the Aveek is only 2%d. Times are too tough.