THE ROMANCE OF MONEY.

Manawatu Herald, Volume L, Issue 3919, 16 March 1929, Page 3

THE ROMANCE OF MONEY.

INTERESTING ADDRESS BY TOWN CLERK.

Mr. W)m. Trueman (Town Clerk) was the speaker at Thursday’s •monthly meeting of the Foxton Lunch Oluib, .which was presided over by Rev. Wt H. Walton. The subject he chose for his talk was “The Romance of* (Money” and on this somewhat difficult subject he gave a particularly interesting address.

Money, said Mr. Trueman, was something everyone wgs most interested in and yet he doulbted if there were many who could give a correct definition of the word. It was something anyone would accept as payment for What a person wanted. Before the introduction of coins people thought in terms of values. In the early days the Germans and Danes lived merely by hunting the wild animals which they killed for food. Before many years had elapsed a shortage of animals was experienced and the people began to collect them and just use what was required instead of killing indiscriminately. They became herd tenders and as such they obtained a surplus of animals, (found an easier life and so the standard of living was raised and these primitive {people lived in a primitive sort of comfort. In this state the hunter thought in terms of skins, the farmer in terms of grain, the artisan in tools, each according to the effort required to produce the article he iwas interested in. Then they began to covet each others possessions, one race coveted what another had and attacks were made one on the- other and the people had to look to means of defence. Thus these people who had no coins thought in terms of value. The Greeoian people were early users of coins which were in the form of cowhide money. If a man owned a beast he cut a small square from its hide which was used as a token that the man possessed the animal and thus bartering was simplified. A man did not have to take his goods to wherever he wished to trade but merely carried the token with him. This, however, lent itself to forgery and besides this the - token had no real value of its own, so the more valuable minerals were adopted as tokens. They had a certain value in themselves and were compact, portgdblt and easy to handle. Measurement was first made by weight and the Romans adapted stamped bars of metal as tokens. The word pound was derived from the old Roman word “pondo” meaning 12oz.- 'Troy of copper. Roman history was full of the wonderful exploits of the traders in 'those days. Trade was carried on with the Natives along the shores of northern Africa where the Rom'ans used to spread their goods on the bekeh and withdraw from the shore in their (boats. The Natives would then leave the bush and inspect the goods, placing bars of gold alongside the articles selected. The Romans would then inspect the articles and gold and if they did not consider the amount equivalent to the article offered they again withdrew and the Natives would reinspect the goods and place further bars of gold alongside the coveted articles. So the trade went on and the Romans gradually established a gold currency. There was no real record, but frolm the antiquity of some of the 'Chinese coins, it is believed that China is the home of the coin as we know it to-day. For some reason their money first took the form of .miniature knives and then ibecame square shaped, octagonal and round. The square coins were not popular for long as there was a danger of the corners breaking off and a circular coin with a hole in the centre took on. The reason for this was that the coins could be strung and worn in the foam of jewellery. The ring as we know it to-day was first brought about by the, bending of the bars of metal for this purpose. The Chinese can also lay clai)m to being the first race to have paper money which was manufactured frolm the leaves of the mulberry tree but this is challenged by the early Egyptians who used papyrus thousands of years ago. China’s first paper money was in the form of certificates about 30 inches square. The Phoenicians used small empty sealed hags bearing a Government seal to the effect that they contained a certain amount of gold and this was practically the first form of State guarantee. The Ro|man bars of gold were also, branded and carried a State guarantee, but were stamped chiefly to prevent adulteration. An interesting fact about early Egyptian coinage was that they stamped out their first money in the form of a lamb, the inference being that the token was worth the purchase price of a lamb. Scripture makes reference bo the lamb as a gift and when Job was troubled with the plague his friends brought him a lamb as a gift. Genesis refers to the lalmib as a piece of money.

Coinage was largely governed by the rise or fall of a country. The Roiman coin most popular at the height of fame of the Homan Empire was the Denarius, a silver coin worth approximately lOd. 'Wlith Rome in power money was congregated within the empire from all parts of the world but with its decline the coinage became debased. The barbarians who overwhelmed the Romans found an enormous wealth of coins but knew no use for it. and melted it down into various articles. There was then experienced a serious money shortage which was not relieved until Charles the Great established coinage again in the year 800 and re-established mo-

dern currency in the west of Europe end coined the English pound representing a pound of silver. Spain later became the centre of the money market which afterwards shifted !to the Netherlands across Europe to England. England by her great colonising scheme brought great wealth to the British Empire which was not challenged until the recent Great War. The first public bank was established in the latter end of the .Sixteenth Century and 1694 witnessed the first public bank in England, it being inaugurated because of a desire on the part of the State to borrow from its people. Actual coinage was not now in very great demand, said Mr. Trueman in con'clusion, because people did .not wish to carry it around with them, .broadly speaking. A man worth some thousands of pounds no longer bad to carry the actual money , had io carry the 'actualmoney about as the credit system had been venient method of dealing with large sums. At the conclusion of his address Mr. Trueman was accorded a hearty vote of thanks by the chairman, which was carried by acclamation.