There are, of course, other reasons in favour (_a_) of paper money being issued by the Government, instead of this valuable and responsible prerogative being abandoned to individual bankers or joint stock companies, to the great financial loss of the community as a whole; and (_b_) of the whole business of banking--which means the organising of credit and the custody of savings--being conducted by the Government itself, in order that the power which banking gives may be exercised exclusively under public control, and for corporate instead of for individual ends, and in order that the profit which banking yields may accrue to the benefit of the community as a whole, instead of to particular capitalists. But that is another story. The Guernsey Government stopped short at the issue of paper money--which is not banking--and even gave up this right at the bidding of private banking companies. SIDNEY WEBB. 41, Grosvenor Road, Westminster. _December, 1910._ AN EXAMPLE OF COMMUNAL CURRENCY INTRODUCTION There are many persons who have heard from one source or another of the way in which the States of Guernsey built their Market House by means of non-interest-bearing notes. Some of these--enthusiasts for the reform of the currency--can dilate for hours on the wisdom of the financial policy of Daniel de Lisle Brock, can tell how, at the opening of the Market he "sprinkled the packages (of redeemed notes) with perfume, and while the band was playing a dirge he laid them on the fire, where they were quickly consumed," and can even quote from his famous speech on that occasion. A few years ago some members of the Co-operative Brotherhood Trust, which is a Society that has among its objects a desire to revive the principles of Robert Owen's Labour Exchange, thought it worth while to make enquiries as to the Guernsey scheme. They realised that an ounce of fact was worth a ton of theory. But what were the facts? Were these notes circulated in the island as a medium of exchange? How were they redeemed? Could a citizen demand gold for them? When the above mentioned enthusiasts were tackled with these practical questions, there was suddenly noticed a certain hesitancy; and when asked point blank what was the year in which this famous Market House was built, no one could say. Enquiries were then made from inhabitants of the island itself. The information gathered was vague and not much to the point. With a few notable exceptions, the average Guernseyman seems to know or care little of the financial policy of the island at the beginning of the nineteenth century. Even from those interested nothing very definite was to be learned. The enquirers at last came near to doubting whether the non-interest-bearing notes had ever existed except in the imagination of the enthusiasts. Only first-hand enquiry on the spot would suffice.