HALFPENNIES HAVE LITTLE VALUE IN PRESENT DAY COMMERCE

Taupo Times, Volume I, Issue 6, 20 February 1952, Page 2

HALFPENNIES HAVE LITTLE VALUE IN PRESENT DAY COMMERCE

There was a tinkle on the pavement. Immediately hurrying mid--afternoon shoppers' steps faltered and eyes were cast groundwards. There was a silence as they listened while the coin rolled slowly to a stop. Through nyloned and trousered legs shot a small grubby hand. It picked up the coin. There was a pause, then a small, thin voice was heard to say: "Cripes, it's only a ha'penny." Came the tinkle agaii and people hurried about their business as the ofixnding piece of copper came to ito final ani inglorious resting place— the sludge beneath the grill of a storm- water drain. "Cripes, it's only a ha'penny." No Longer Sought After. Even the owner of the smallr grubby hand realised that it was practically good for nothing. Halfpennies speak no language with the youngsters to-day. Gone are the days of the halfpenny cinnamon bary and the bulPs eye. In fact a couple of the larger coppers will raise nothing more than a cynical smile from young nephews and nieces. Parents known better than to distribute such largess. The crux of the matter is that with few exceptions the least valuable coin in the currency to-day has few uses. In valae it has considerably less purchasing power than did the farthing which, until about the the coinage in the Dominion. In those days it was possible to exchange a farthing for a bulFs eye at the local sweet shop, but. to-day anybody would be hard .pushed to get anything for a halfpenny. Not Acceptable. There is no need to ask a tobacconist what he thinks about halfpennies. Put down 3d. for a box of matches — one box of matches — and chances are about 100 to 1, that twe boxes and no change will be pushed back across the counter. Some brands of tobacco carry a halfpenny in the price. People who smoke those brands often get a box of matches thrown in without ordering it to bring the change into the s : m p 1 e mult iple s . One tobacconist put it this way: "We would rather put the halfpenny in our pockets than have to bother about it in change.,, He is not a grasping man either. Halfpennies find little favour with fruiterers. One fruiterer said: "The only thing I sell in my shop with the halfpenny tag on it is chewing gum. Unless a customer gives me lld. they get two packets." It is true that some grocery lines carry the halfpenny tag, but even the most insensitive housewife wouid probably boggle at questioning a grocer about the fate of an odd halfpenny or two as she ran her eyes over the weekly grocery account, which to-day, as most know to their sorrow, usually runs into pounds and not shillings. That the halfpenny is on the way out is generally realised, and, according to the banks, not so many are being minted now.