Bill Ralston eyes up the barter economy of Great Barrier Island in the Hauraki Gulf.
Typical transport on Great Barrier, photo Natalie Slade/NZH
This year I have decided to institute a new financial regime because of the payment system used by some of my clients. Apart from this column, most of the stuff I do is advice and consultancy work for large institutions, both public and private. I sweat away all month and at the end I submit an invoice based on the hours I’ve worked. In theory, by the 20th of the following month, they should have deposited some cash into my bank account.
Note the words “in theory”. In practice, many of these commercial behemoths suddenly decide they’ll get around to paying at, say, eight weeks instead of four. “Ah, yes, that’s our new accounts system. Also the finance department has taken time off for Yom Kippur and won’t be back until after Ramadan. Besides, invoices are only accepted until the third week of every month and then only on days that have a “t” in their name. It’s the computers doing it, really, and our IT team promise they’ll look at it sometime this millennium.”
Right, so from now on I’ll go to the butcher’s, grab a leg of lamb, tell him to invoice me by the 20th, and say that I may or may not pay next month? I’d end up with the Sunday roast rammed in an uncomfortable place. The curious thing is that, although the accounts departments in these institutions seem unable to pay out any money for a month or more, the section of the department that sends out its bills to me seems to function 24/7, and it’s very keen on prompt payment.
I recently spent five days on Great Barrier Island in the Hauraki Gulf, and I think I will adopt the island’s monetary system. Four hours from Auckland by boat or half an hour in a flying shoebox, Great Barrier is truly isolated. It is a paradise, and although it doesn’t have an ATM, the locals seem wedded to two types of transactions: hard cash or barter. One chap explained to me that transportation costs mean food is expensive, so most people have their own vegetable gardens and there are plenty of chooks roaming around and fish to be caught in the sea. It’s not uncommon, therefore, for services on the lovely island to be paid for in goods such as veges, eggs or crayfish.
Unfortunately, paying my power bill in Auckland with a dozen snapper and couple of kahawai is unlikely to meet Mercury Energy’s payment criteria, so I will have to move to Great Barrier where there is no mains electricity and homes are powered by solar energy, wind and generators.
Setting up home on the Barrier so I can get rid of invoicing and survive by trading goods and services as our settler forefathers did is not as ridiculous as it sounds. The island has large splendidly deserted white-sand beaches and gorgeous native forest and, I was consistently told, is 3-4 degrees warmer than Auckland. I wouldn’t miss out on all modern conveniences, as the cellphone towers are about to be upgraded, so you can actually get a signal, and the rural broadband rollout will mean sometime this year the information superhighway will be laid right to the door of my shack on the beach. Not that I have a shack yet, but land prices are certainly much lower than those in Ponsonby and Freemans Bay, so I should be able to pick one up and still have cash to spare to pay Telecom to connect me to the outside world.
I also admire the islanders’ blissful disdain for rules and regulations. A decade or so ago, the Barrier’s population was around 1500. It is now around 800. I asked one chap why that was. Average incomes on the island are relatively low. He blamed the Resource Management Act for imposing excessive costs on people trying to develop their properties and businesses, so folk left the island and went to the city where they could earn more.
The remaining 800 seem to have come up with a better idea. They simply ignore the Resource Management Act and other expensive rules. I noted the concept of a warrant of fitness and registration for motor vehicles seemed foreign to the owners of many of the cars I saw. Besides, I don’t think I’d need a car. I could get around almost everywhere by boat, and as long as the petrol station accepted fish for petrol for the outboard, I’d be practically self-sustaining.
In the meantime, while I’m still here in the city, I’ll have a go at seeing if the dairy owner will accept a bunch of cos lettuce from my garden in exchange for a packet of fags. You never know, it might work.
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Yes, the barter system on Great Barrier is alive and flourishing as is the community spirit. We love our fresh veges from the garden and fish from the sea. The scenery is stunning and it’s a great place to learn about alternative living. Conserving power and water, appreciating the simplicity of no big shopping malls or fast food outlets.
(Report Abuse) (Report Abuse)I think it’s a bit exagerrated though to say that we have a disdain for rules and regulations. There is a minority certainly who choose not to register or warrant there cars and this is not something to admire!! especially as often these are the same minority who often choose not to use seatbelts for themselves or their children. The majority of island residents are law abiding, hard working people. The photograph is an insult to this majority.
Perhaps it’s time for another visit Bill with eyes open to the other side of the coin??
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