Madison County Democrat. (London, Ohio) 19??-1958, 1955-04-08
i OUR
"a Town


this port city of Halifax on the
9Th of December, 1917 over
1000 people died sudden fiery
deaths when a munitions ship
blew up in the harbor. 1900
were killed instantly. Over 500
more died of injuries sustain
ed when 1000 tons of nitro
exploded following a ship col
lision. This morning Sam and
| saw the anchor of the mu-
milton ship which was found 3
miles away. No other part of
the doomed ship was ever
found. Whole blocks of houses
were demolished and the
sound was heard 80 miles
away. Today, this city of 150,-
600 still talks of that bad day
with awe.
But enough of this, on to
lighter things. This is the first
time in 9 years that the Scot
land" has touched here. We
picked up a cargo of copper
ignots and steel bars bound
for England. Trade seems
brisk here with % freighters
and 3 liners in this wonderful
harbor which could hold 10
times that number. Halifax is
also the home of a siZable ma
val base and a submarine
base. Halifax is the eastern
terminal for both the Canad-
ian Pacific and Canadian Nat
ional railroads. The people tell
me that the Canadian Pacific
makes money and that the Ca
madam National loses money.
The Canadian National is gov
ernment owned. Sounds like
home.
And now comes a sensible
suggestion. Paterson showed
me a letter he received with
regard to the proposed change
in English currency. Paterson
says that he has written many
letters on the subject and that
a bill has been presented to
the English Parliament to
change to the decimal system.
AS the matter now stands the
British currency runs a cock
eyed pace. For instance the
smallest coin, the farthing is
worth absolutely nothing! Four
farthings make a penny, how
ever, II pennies make one
shilling, two shillings make a
florin and 212 shillings make
a half crown. There are 20
shillings to one pound and II
shillings make a guinea. The
latter is called the gentle
mans coin" and was invented
so that a gentleman" could
pay bill for 20 shillings while
including a 5 per cent tip!
If you are not already lost,
keep in mind that there is no
such thing as guinea! 1t has
been withdrawn! Adding to
this monetary mess are the
half penny, thruppence, (three
pence) and six penny coins.
No mechanical adding mach
ing or cash register has ever
been invented which can ham
die this metal maze. nor will
one ever be! However. lux
ury items are still priced in
the nonexistent guinea just
so the shop-keeper can get his
extra 5 per cent!
One more thing and we'll
quit-folding money comes in
10 shilling. one pound, $3.50
five and 10 pound notes but
the Germans flooded England
with fake 5-pounders from the
air during the war and now
you can't get one cashed with
out signing it on the back un-
der the baleful eye of the sus-
picious shopkeeper! But we
still think the guinea, "the
gentleman's COIN. tops 'em all
even if and especially since it
does not exist!
Halifax is an old city estab-
lished in 1755 and is the old
est British province in North
America. The first thing we
saw ashore was a red truck
and upon it's side was neatly
painted "Killeen's Express.
We thought that our home
town had a monopoly on the
name Killeen, but maybe these
are relatives. Lots of Irish
here McNamaras, O'Learys,
O'Connells, O'Briens and Duff
fys and many more. There
are a few French but the bal
ance is all English
See by the papers that there
was quite an auto pile-up
down at Washington, c. Fl.
How did we find out? Why,
MswNy\yyNNNly'H WIN