A POSER FOR THE BANKERS !
A currency conundrum propounded by the Secretary of State for the Colonies in the course of a recent after-dinner speech to the British Overseas Bankers Association may perhaps interest and amuse a larger audience than the one which Mr. Amery addressed. After expressing his determina- tion to refrain, before an audience of bankers, from stirring up controversy concerning deflation, the Gold Standard, &c., Mr. Amery said " I will rather put to you a problem Professor Edgeworth put to me many years go, and for which I have always sought a solution. It happened when the America- Mexico exchange was at par but ;the currency of each country in local tender in each other was at a slight discount. An American citizen was proposing to cross the Rio Grande which forms the frontier, and as he approached the bridge he thought he needed a " fortifier." He took some refreshment and handed over the counter an American five dollar note, and the barmaid said : " Shall I give you a Mexican five dollar note as change ? " • He was obliged and crossed over. The bridge was long and the sun hot. When he arrived at the other side he again needed encouragement, and stopped at a place of refreshment. He there handed over the Mexican five dollar note and the young woman, thinking he was going to the United States, tendered him a five dollar American note. His intention had been to proceed, but the temptation to return was too great. He did so, but like the young lady of Spain who was sick in the train, not once, but again and again and again, he did the journey a great many times. In the end, the bridge not being provided with a proper parapet, he fell into the river and was drowned. Now, who paid for those drinks ? "
I am not able to say whether the Overseas Bankers have yet been able to solve the conundrum.
A. W. K.
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