“ENZOR” FOR CURRENCY

Press, Volume CIII, Issue 30559, 30 September 1964, Page 27

“ENZOR” FOR CURRENCY

Mr 0. Coberger’s View “Enzor,” abbreviated to a Z with a horizontal stroke through it, has been suggested by Mr Oscar Coberger, of Arthur’s Pass, as a better name than dollar for the New Zealand unit of decimal currency.

It is inefficient, Mr Coberger says, to spend millions converting to the more efficient decimal system and then adopt such an inefficient name as dollar.

“Dollar” was used in many other countries and open to confusion. Usually it meant United States dollar, and this could lead to more trouble. Many people in many countries lived in harbour towns in close touch with shipping, international commerce, and overseas visitors, and both these groups were entitled to clarity in currency. The time taken to say and write “New Zealand dollar,” answer inquiries for clarification, and perhaps settle disputes, could amount to hundreds of hours daily. Mr Coberger estimates that this could cost millions of “pounds” in 20 years.

The appeal of the dollar, he says, seems to be that it is. the currency of a wealthy country, a free currency, and a sonorous sound. Ideally a currency’s name should be short, peculiar to that country, and not used in any other way.

An independent country should be proud to have its own currency name, and this could have advertising value. Yen (Y) is the most efficient of all currency names. Rand (R) is next, but not quite so good. Enzor, an abbreviation of New Zealander, would not be open to mistakes, it fixes the country, sounds sonorous, and is not in other use, Mr Coberger isaid.