Another wonderful example from this year of the history of the banking system in early Tasmania.
No doubt in 1888 all distances were seemingly greater, mail slower, data sharing virtually non-existent and access to banking facilities relied far more on the banks working together to assist customers.
This cheque shows how often banking instrument like this was shared. The town here has been altered from St Marys to Stanley.
The cheque is in favour of one P. Smith to the amount of 5Â pounds sterling even.
It is in wonderful condition given its age with a lovely example of the bank logo on the left hand margin.
A remarkable example of a cheque from the same year when Henry Parkes was the Premier of New South Wales.
Design
A cheque (or check in American English) is a document that orders a payment of money from a bank account. The person writing the cheque, the drawer, usually has a current account (most English speaking countries) or chequing/checking account (US; also, occasionally, Canada) where their money was previously deposited. The drawer writes the various details including the monetary amount, date, and a payee on the cheque, and signs it, ordering their bank, known as the drawee, to pay that person or company the amount of money stated.
Cheques are a type of bill of exchange and were developed as a way to make payments without the need to carry large amounts of money. While paper money evolved from promissory notes, another form of negotiable instrument, similar to cheques in that they were originally a written order to pay the given amount to whoever had it in their possession (the “bearer”).
Technically, a cheque is a negotiable instrument instructing a financial institution to pay a specific amount of a specific currency from a specified transactional account held in the drawer’s name with that institution. Both the drawer and payee may be natural persons or legal entities. Specifically, cheques are order instruments, and are not in general payable simply to the bearer (as bearer instruments are) but must be paid to the payee. In some countries, such as the US, the payee may endorse the cheque, allowing them to specify a third party to whom it should be paid.
Although forms of cheques have been in use since ancient times and at least since the 9th century, it was during the 20th century that cheques became a highly popular non-cash method for making payments and the usage of cheques peaked. By the second half of the 20th century, as cheque processing became automated, billions of cheques were issued annually; these volumes peaked in or around the early 1990s. Since then cheque usage has fallen, being partly replaced by electronic payment systems. In an increasing number of countries cheques have either become a marginal payment system or have been completely phased out.
*All biographical details are taken from Wikipedia for education purposes only.
History
Premiers
Premier of New South Wales – Henry Parkes
Premier of Queensland – Samuel Griffith (until 13 June), then Thomas McIlwraith (until 30 November), then Boyd Dunlop Morehead
Premier of South Australia – Thomas Playford II
Premier of Tasmania – Philip Fysh
Premier of Victoria – Duncan Gillies
Governors
Governor of New South Wales – Lord Carrington
Governor of Queensland – Sir Anthony Musgrave
Governor of South Australia – Sir William Robinson
Governor of Tasmania – Sir Robert Hamilton
Governor of Victoria – Lord Loch
.*All historical info taken from Wikipedia for educational purposes only
