CHARLESTON
CURRENCY.
In the first stages of British occupation of the Colonies, all trading was by barter. A Sydney newspaper of 1796 in announcing a play, stated that the admittance fee would be one shilling, “paid in meal or rum, taken at the door”; and this system prevailed in New Zealand until the establishment of trading banks—the Union Bank of Australia in 1840, and the Banks of New Zealand and of New South Wales in 1861, with some others between and after those dates.
On the early goldfields the first medium of exchange was loose gold, measured by thimblefuls, pannikinfuls, or billyfuls; but if ever this system prevailed at Charleston it cannot have been for long, seeing that trading banks were operating there soon after its discovery. The value of thimblefuls varied but little, but of the other measures considerably, so they were weighed. It is said that the average value of a billyful was £1,200. The practice of weighing soon became general, and stores and hotels kept gold-scales on their counters for the purpose; but the price per ounce was, until the advent of banks, a matter of bargaining. Later, bank notes and coinage came into circulation, but not, until recent years, copper coins—they were despised. Bank notes were at first looked at askance; gold was gold; notes were but paper, merely “pipe lights”—and some madcaps actually used them as such. Gradually, with the introduction of banking-accounts, came cheques, drafts, bills, and other accessories of banking routine, resulting in the full monetary and currency system of to-day.
THE CHARLESTON BANKS.
Bank of New Zealand. This bank was situated on Section 115 at the corner of Prince’s Street East and Rotten Row South. It was opened in January, 1867, and closed 6th August, 1888. Officers: Matthew Cleland, January to May, 1867; George Kirton, May, 1867, to May, 1868. Later records are not available, but it is believed that Mr. H. G. Smith was in charge in 1875; Mr. H. F. Gorrie from 1877 to 1880; and that he was succeeded by Mr. W. H. Brown (to about 1885), Mr. S. J. Brookfield, and Mr. W. A. Mason (1888). The smelters were —. Filder, C. Woodhead. This branch took
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