DECIMAL COINAGE.

Auckland Star, Volume LXIV, Issue 137, 13 June 1933, Page 11

DECIMAL COINAGE.

PROPOSAL FOR N.Z.

MERITS OF SYSTEM. CENTS AND POUNDS.

(By P. S. SMALLFIELD.)

The news of the intention of the Government to bring into use a Dominion silver coinage has created some interest. The present seems "an opportune time "to ventilate the advisability of having a decimal system of coinage for our domestic use. If a change is to be made in our silver tokens, why not make now the radical change that must come some day ? Practically every country other than the United Kingdom and the Australian dependencies has a decimal system of coinage. The conservatism of England is to blame for her retention of the awkward system of pounds, shillings, pence and farthings; but there :s r.o good reason why progressive New .Zealand should remain content to so imitate the conservatism of England as to lag behind other countries in the matter of coinage reform. I shall endeavour to show as far as may be within the limits of this article: (I) How our Dominion coinage could be changed for a new coinage of silver to take the place of the old; (2) that the change could be effected witli very little inconvenience to the general public; (3) that the change would be a very beneficial one; (4) that the objections to the change are not weighty ones. The Proposed Change.

Canada, owing to her commercial dealings with the United States, long ago adopted the dollar as her unit coin. It would be a mistake for New Zealand to adopt a dollar unit. For obvious reasons it would be well for us to keep to the present unit of the pound. But our coinage could readily be made a decimal one by simply reckoning our money in pounds, florins and cents. There would thus be 1000 cents in the pound; but as at present there are 900 farthings in the pound, the difference is not great. In the pound there are ten florins, and each florin would be equal to 100 cents. The florin was originally coined with a view to' the possible introduction of a decimal system, but the reform went no further in E.igland. If the change suggested above Le authorised by Act of Parliai ment, it could readily come into operation by the simple expedient of either slightly appreciating or depreciating our present bronze coins. Thus all our present silver and bronze coins would remain in use until gradually superseded by a new silver and nickel coinage. Bronze coins, large and heavy as they are, are somewhat out of date. Nickel tokens, pierced with a hole, like those in [ use in Belgium, would be light and j haniy, and would not be mistaken for I silver coins.

Modified Use of Our Present Coins. Until the new coins replaced the present ones, the florin would remain as at present —one-tenth of the pound; the half-crown would be one florin, 25 cents; the shilling, 50 cents; the sixpenny piece, 25 cents; threepenny bits would pass as two to the "sixpence." The only difficulty that would arise—and it is not a great one—is in regard to the bronze tokens. These could bo cither appreciated or depreciated slightly in value. Take appreciation first. Reckon 10 pence to the shilling instead of 12. Each penny would then bo 5 cents, and for the time being, the half-penny would be 2$ cents. This system, however, would riot lend itself well to bookkeeping in which halfpennies figure. A better plan would be to depreciate the bronze coinage so as to reckon 25 pence to the florin. Each penny would then be 4 cents, and the halfpenny 2 cents. We should probably not need a one-cent piece at all. Advantage of Proposed System. • A decimal system of coinage means an immense saving of time, and "time is money." At present our money accounts are kept in three columns, with halfpence indicated by fractions. This systefn necessitates the dividing of the totals by 2, 12, and 20 respectively. Under the now system, accounts might be kept in columns headed pounds, florins, and cents; or in one column with the assistance of two decimal points (the two points being conventional, of course), as, for instance, £20.3.024, which would read 20 pounds 3 florins 24 cents. All that is needed, after adding up such a column, is to mark off the two required places in the total.

School children would have good cause to rejoice if the proposed new system came into use. The time saved by the substitution of a decimal system for the present irrational system of £ s. d. could be given to other work, and money sums would be robbed of half their terror for the child. For instance, under the present state of things, lie is given as a sum, sav, the following problem: Reduce £348 19/7! to halfpence. He has to proceed to multiply by 20, 12, and 2, and to add 19>' 7, and 2 in turn. If lie is a child and not very apt, he gets his sum wrong, and perhaps is kept in for his mistakes. He is rendered miserable by the difficulties, and his teacher grows impatient at bis slow progress. The happier child in the days of a decimal qoinago will be spared the refined tortures of £ s. d. His problem will be, say: Reduce £34S 9. floi'ins 25 cents to cents; and he will simply write the answer: 3,489,025 cents. Or, reduce 3,489,025 cents to £, etc; and he will write £348,9.025. Objections to Proposed Scheme. Of course, conservative people will exclaim, "The suggestion is a foolish one; the scheme would never work." That, is just -a matter of opinicAi. To deal with other objections: —

L Tlrat the change would injuriously affect our business relations with the United Kingdom. There would be no dislocation of business. The pound would still be the unit of exchange. As Ion" as there is a profit to be made in commerce merchants are quite ready to undertake any necessary adjustments of currency. They do so every day. ISO one. could reasonably urge the Canadian dollar stands in the wajj ot business relations between England and Canada; or that commerce between England and France suffers because tha unit of coinage in France is the franc. 2 That the general public wouldresent the change. The general public has borne so patiently certain recent legislative enactments that have disturbed the calm tenor of civic life, that it is not likely that any strong protest would bo made against one more radical change. But, really, the people of New Zealand are intelligent, and it is more than likely that a reform that has found, favour in other countries woud be heartily welcomed in this progressive Dominion.