Page 50 - Demo

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During that meeting in July – on 21 July 1921 to be precise – the SARB adopted a resolution to confirm Clegg’s appointment as Governor. Clegg had been recommended as the preferred candidate in December 1920 by a selection committee that included influential British economist John Maynard Keynes.
On 22 May 1922, Clegg informed stockholders at the second ordinary meeting that: “Last December we received the first instalment of our supply of Bank Notes, and thereupon gave the requisite statutory notice to the Treasury that the Bank was in a position to issue notes. The Treasury, in accordance with the Act, then gave notice to the other banks that their issues of notes must cease on the 30th June 1922.” (Clegg: 1921−1929, p 2).
Furthermore: “The notes of the other banks were withdrawn as fast as possible until the 30th of June, 1924, when the commercial banks transferred the liability for their outstanding notes, amounting to £443,000, to the Reserve Bank. Thus, in the absence of any Government issues the Reserve Bank has full control over the note circulation of the Union,” writes De Kock (1929, p 52).
All of the SARB’s banknotes, except the 10s, were designed by Pretoria artist Gordon Pilkington and printed by the Bank of England, Clegg informed stockholders. The design of the note was intended to represent the four provinces of the Union, according to Clegg.
The Cape Province was represented by Van Riebeeck’s ship approaching Table Mountain; Natal and the Free State were represented by the Mont-aux-Sources; the Transvaal was represented by the pastoral scene of the veld and by the chimneys and headgears of Johannesburg; while the railway train crossing the river by a bridge may be said to have represented the thread of communication which bound all four provinces together, Clegg told stockholders.
On 11 June 1926, during the sixth ordinary meeting of stockholders, Clegg declared: “Our main objective as a central bank must ever be to maintain the value of the South African pound at par with the amount of gold which the Mint puts into sovereign.” (Clegg: 1921−1929, p 10). This statement has stood the test of time, as will be revealed in the following chapters.
Admittedly, “... [the] central bank established in South Africa began its life in the profoundest trade depression which the world has ever seen,” Clegg (1921−1929, p 7) reflected during the fourth ordinary meeting of stockholders on 25 June 1924.
Place holder pics look for
South African and British pound banknotes
The South African Reserve Bank in 1929 “promise[d] to pay the bearer on demand at Pretoria, Five Pounds.