80 Million 3d Pieces Held

Press, Volume CVII, Issue 31520, 7 November 1967, Page 28

80 Million 3d Pieces Held

(N.Z. Press Association) WELLINGTON, Nov. 6. There are still more than 40,000 Bahaman 2c coins in circulation in New Zealand, according to the Minister of Finance (Mr Muldoon). In a progress report on the decimal currency change-over, the Minister revealed today that some 58,000 of the coins had been melted down in Auckland.

“Investigations since D.C.Day indicate that about 100,000 of these coins were struck, so it appears that over 40,000 are in the hands of the public,” said Mr Muldoon. The public is, apparently, also holding large stocks of the old 3d piece, according to the Minister.

“Our suspicions that large numbers of these would never return have been confirmed,” he said. “The total issue of these coins was to the value of about s3m, representing 125 million coins. “So far the banks have accumulated just over slm, or about 45 million coins, and we do not anticipate any more large quantities returning to the banking system.” This means that about 80 million 3d pieces, worth about s2m, are still held by the public

Virtually all the old banknotes had now been returned, said Mr Muldoon. Commenting on the new coins, he said that the 50c piece was now circulating widely and had been readily accepted. About 3) million of these were now in circulation, according to the latest bank returns.

A further s3m worth of old florins, shillings and sixpences were to be withdrawn to improve the ratio of decimal coins in circulation, the Minister said, adding that the present ratio was even higher

than had been expected and was a pleasing feature of the change. Mr Muldoon also announced that more than 37,000 cash register machines had been converted to decimal currency of a total of 65,000 registered for Government assistance.

"I am particularly pleased with the progress to date,” he said. “This progress is evident in , the complete acceptability and lack of controversy over the new system. “It now seems that by mid--1968 we can expect the job to be completed.”