5 Rupees Diyatalawa; PoW Camp

Diyatalawa camp in Ceylon's hill country held Boer prisoners captured during the South African war, and this 5 Rupee note was issued as internal scrip to allow inmates to conduct basic commerce within the compound. The Officer in Charge — not a bank, not a treasury — was the issuing authority, which places this firmly in the category of military necessity rather than monetary policy.

Printed on-site at Diyatalawa rather than by an established press, production quality is accordingly rough. These camp issues were not redeemable beyond the wire, and almost none re-entered formal circulation after repatriation began in 1902.