[4 
MONEY 
Nowadays the situation is very different. Methods 
of setting one payment against another through 
banking and other agencies have done away with the 
necessity of a tenant holding an amount of coin in 
preparation for paying his rent and gradually increas- 
ing it as quarter day draws nearer, and also with the 
necessity of landlords holding a large amount of coin 
after quarter day and letting it down only gradually 
uring the quarter. The rent is paid by a bank 
writing certain figures in its books which enable the 
landlord instead of the tenant to draw out the sum: 
the bank does not keep one stock of coin for the 
tenant and another for the landlord; both stocks 
are dispensed with. Even when there were no £1 
and 105. notes, the firm that had to pay £1,000 in 
wages did not in modern times have to accumulate 
(1,000 gradually throughout the week before pay 
day, but simply sent a clerk to the bank for the money 
an hour or two before it was paid out. 
Paper currencies containing notes of small denomin- 
ation have obviously relieved every one except banks 
and governments of the necessity of holding coin 
unless in preparation for paying sums under the 
amount of the smallest note. Coin is only wanted as 
“ the change” of a note. When thereare ten-shilling 
notes in circulation, the private person however rich 
does not want more than about 7s. in coin, and a poor 
person, unless he is very poor indeed, will have just 
as much. Firms which have to pay large sums in 
wages do not want any coin to pay those men who 
receive multiples of 10s. They only want coin to pay 
the surpluses over multiples of 10s. The conse- 
quence is that, when the amounts held by govern- 
ments and banks are left out of account, the magnitude 
of the average holding of coin depends almost entirely 
on the magnitude of the smallest note which is 
allowed by law and is generally acceptable. If £5