Currency Out of Control
A large number of law-abiding citizens, already made currency- conscious as a result of the Max Intrator revelations, must have been startled to read that British Forces on the Continent have, according to Sir Frank Tribe, Comptroller and Auditor-General, through illicit trading and currency dealings enriched themselves and impoverished their country to the tune of er., ,—,000,000 in 5945-46. Surprised they very well may have been, but the real surprise is 'that the figure is not a great deal bigger. The probable explanation is that those who were seriously engaged in full-scale illegal transac- tions were careful to see that their gains were either in the form of easily negotiable currency or else in goods with a steady market value. It is probably true, therefore, that £6o,000,000 merely represents the profits made by the considerable number of troops who were engaged in mild black-market dealings as a side-line. Cigarettes were relatively easy to obtain by the Army, and they sold in Germany for 6cf. each. It was thus evidently possible to meet all current expenses without the necessity of making any inroads on orthodox pay. Many took advantage of the opportunity. In a short time the N.A.A.F.I., the Army Post Office, etc., all found themselves with piles of absolutely worthless marks, £6o,000,000 worth to be precise. In a rather different category—he had lost his amateur status—was the man who bought a camera for fifty cigarettes and sold it in London for £75. This £75 converted, unofficially, into Belgian francs became worth Ltoo, which bought in Brussels a sufficient number of watches to sell in London later for £175. Regulations, of course, were quickly introduced to stop these transactions, but by then most of the damage had been done. As .Max Intrator has shown, there will always be a sufficiently large number of the public who are without any conscience when it comes to defrauding the Chancellor of the Exchequer.
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