BRITISH RECOINAGES

Evening Post, Volume CXV, Issue 74, 29 March 1933, Page 5

BRITISH RECOINAGES

■ELIZABETH AND WILLIAM 111

An interesting address which had a'bear'ing on the recent' decision of the Govern.jnent to have a special Xew Zealand coinage minted, was delivered by Dr. H. G. (Heine, lecturer in economics at. Victoria TUmversity College, .at of the JNew Zealand Numismatic Society/on Moh-' S^-i.™ address was entitled, "Two .British. Recoiriages." ' :, ■ \.. .' ': Dr- Heine said that there were two famous recomages in British history/ one an the time of Elizabeth, and the other in the time of-William 111. Each recoinrage was rarried out with a view to meeting a difficult .financial situation. Elizaibeth found difficulty in,making her fixed revenue meet her expenditure, which was increasing in consequence of the* risin" price level. She thought that 'the recoin" age would lead to a fall in the price level. This did not prove to be the case, since the rise in prices was due to the inflow, of precious metals, from America, and this continued on a large scale for yet" anothei century. • . -

The recomage of William ,111.' had a direct bearing on a heavy adverse exchange, which worried that "monarch; The adverse exchange was a serious evil at that time in view of the heavy funds which had to be transmitted to Holland to carry on the war in the Netherlands. It yras hoped that a' reeoinage would lead "to an improvement of the exchanges, but it seems that other measures would have •been more effective, and that the remedy proved in the end more expensiye than the malady. .

The speaker also referred to ttte general development of coinage as a medium of exchange, and made passing reference to the clipping of early English coins, the smuggling of English silver biillicra, and the debasement of English coins, notably by King Henry VIII. The lecturer concluded by saying that the. two great recoinages of British history were adopted as the result, of faulty political diagnoses, and that while each recoinage was a technical feat of great importance, it was a disappointment from t. financial point of view.