Power Boards May Use Decimals From April 1

Press, Volume CVI, Issue 31097, 28 June 1966, Page 3

Power Boards May Use Decimals From April 1

(New Zealand Press Association! AUCKLAND, June 27. Aucklanders are likely to get their first experience of decimal currency through the Auckland and Waitemata electric power boards.

The Electrical Supply Authorities’ Association has invited its members to comment on the Decimal Currency Board’s suggestion that the industry considers changing over on April I—three months before the official conversion.

Reporting on this to the Auckland board meeting today. the general manager, Mr A. S. Don, said the proposal offered attractive prospects. It would secure early conversion of accounting machines before the machine com-i panies’ resources were fully extended, and would allow the board to make a material

contribution toward a smoother change-over on July 10, 1967. The board would not only reTieve the pressure on the companies by an early change-over, but would also make consumers familiar with conversion. “AU our bills would be prepared in decimals for machine processing, but as they will also carry the sterling equivalent of the total, they will introduce every household, factory, shop and office to decimal currency during the three months before July,” said Mr Don. Although the time available for training staff on conversion would be reduced if the Decimal Currency Board's

suggestion was accepted, this was more than balanced by the extra facilities available to the industry by pre-conver-sion and the extra consumer service. ; “I think it is an opportunity that should not be missed,” said the chairman (Mr A, W. Gooder), and the board agreed.