Chamber Wants Z For Dollar

Press, Volume CIII, Issue 30561, 2 October 1964, Page 14

Chamber Wants Z For Dollar

The fate of the halfpenny and the -need for a half-cent coin under the new decimal currency , system were debated by the Canterbury Chamber of Commerce last evening.

Most treated the coins with scorn. Mr R. C. Neville thought they would be useful for tips, and Mr H. E. Radley wanted them retained for street appeals and the church plate. In the end the chamber decided to recommend to the Decimal Currency Board tha'. the half-cent should not be pail of New Zealand’s decimal coinage. The chamber also decided to renew its efforts to have a Z with a single vertical stroke through it made the symbol for the New Zealand dollar. The Government has decided that an S with a single vertical stroke through it wilt be the symbol on banknotes and cheques, and the chamber has been told that its Z with a stroke could be confused with the Polish zloti. “Their S with one stroke is more likely to be confused with the American dollar sign than our Z with the zloti,” said Mr B. J. Drake.

Mr R. E. Smith said the chamber should not accept the S with a stroke just because it had “been decided”. If it wanted the Z with a stroke it should fight for it. A letter from the Canterbury Master Printers’ Association said the Z with a stroke would cost an incalculable amount to incorporate in printing processes. Mr Drake remarked that that criticism applied equally to the S with a single stroke. Mr A. R. Mackay said the ordinary letter Z used as the New Zealand dollar symbol during the transition period would give printers a lot less trouble than the Government’s S with one stroke. The chamber will take the matter further with the Associated Chambers of Commerce.