Dashes Or Dots For Decimals?

Press, Volume CIII, Issue 30633, 26 December 1964, Page 5

Dashes Or Dots For Decimals?

[By

FRED MACLEAN,

of the Aus-

tralian Information and News Bureau]

AUSTRALIANS may use dashes instead of dots to indicate decimal points when their new currency comes into circulation -—scheduled for February, 1966. The State Savings Bank of Victoria has already asked its staff to use hyphens, instead of dots, between dollars and cents. The bank has also asked staff not to abbreviate the word “cents” because the letter “c” can be mistaken for a nought.

Both currencies decimal and £ s. d.—will co-exist for about two years after the new system is introduced. Many business houses will continue to use the old system in their internal accounting during the change-over period. The value of £1 is two dollars.

Firms using both systems would present their wages cheques to the bank in dollars, but require the money in £ s. d.—which could prove expensive if a teller forgot to divide the dollars by half. All banks have conversion courses for their staffs.

Many firms are already marking prices in both currencies on their show cards . . . for the benefit of their staffs and clients, to help accustom them to the new system; and especially to the transition period. But most are using dots.