The Press FRIDAY, DECEMBER 30, 1966. Decimalisation In Britain

Press, Volume CVI, Issue 31255, 30 December 1966, Page 8

The Press FRIDAY, DECEMBER 30, 1966. Decimalisation In Britain

The Government’s announcement that Britain will change to a decimal currency system early in 1971 will give ample time for preparation and instruction. Since the decision to adopt the decimal system was made last March controversy has turned not on the desirability of change—the advantages of decimalisation being generally conceded—but on whether the £ should be kept as the major currency unit, instead of the 10s unit preferred by South Africa, Australia, and New Zealand. The Government’s intention to keep the £ as the basic unit seems to have been made largely on traditionalist grounds —on what the White Paper referred to as the “international case”. Some large business institutions, supporting the report of the Halsbury Committee of three years ago, had argued that to abandon the £ in favour of a 10s unit “ would involve “ some risk to the international standing of sterling ”. The White Paper took the line that while the 10s system would cause less initial confusion among housewives and traders, it was desirable from the viewpoint of prestige that the £ be retained. It was argued, further, that it must be advantageous in a highly developed economy to have a basic unit of high value.

This contention has been vigorously disputed by those who insist that efficiency is more important than prestige. The German D-mark and the Swiss franc, the objectors have pointed out, do not appear to suffer from being “ lighter ” than the £. The Government’s choice, however, seems to be a firm one, in spite of vigorous protests from industry and commerce. The “ Financial Times ”, suggesting that the balance of opinion might be showing the Chancellor, Mr Callaghan, as “ sticking firmly by his mistakes ”, noted his admission that the Government’s decision required the approval of Parliament It would be in the national interest, the newspaper considered, if members were allowed a free vote on an issue which, in a political sense, could not possibly be regarded as partisan.

The £, Mr Callaghan had explained earlier, would be subdivided into 100 minor units, each called a “ new penny ”, instead of 20 shillings each of 12 pence. For convenience in daily transactions there would have to be a coin nearer to the value of the present penny, so a new halfpenny would be created. The champions of the 10s unit claim that its use would avoid the complication of the halfpenny and thus simplify the reckoning for shoppers and shopkeepers. The “Daily Telegraph” has suggested also that in retaining the weight-value relationship, which the Government proposes to do, the higher-valued coins might be unnecessarily large and heavy. The Government may be expected to look critically at the coinage problem, among the other complications of the change, before planning becomes too advanced. Of comparable importance to decimalisation of the currency, in the judgment of “The Times”, is the need for adoption of the metric system for weights and other measures. “The Times” admits that the United States still deals in “ feet and inches, “ pints and gallons, rather than metres and litres ”, It notes, too, that Australia and South Africa, recently gone over to decimal currencies, nevertheless continue to use traditional measurements in other fields —as New Zealand undoubtedly will. “ But ”, it insists, "it is no argument for Britain to stay with the “ minority, just because the minority is larger than “one. On the contrary, the hope that the United “Kingdom will become a member of the European “ Economic Community within the foreseeable future “ makes the case for going metric as well as decimal “ stronger than ever ”.