NEW ZEALAND COINAGE

Dominion, Volume 33, Issue 77, 23 December 1939, Page 10

NEW ZEALAND COINAGE

Official Description In Proclamation

CENTENNIAL HALF-CROWN

An official description of New Zealand coinage is given in a proclamation issued yesterday by the Governor-Gen-eral. In a statement, last evening, the Minister of Finance, Mr. Nash, said that the Coinage Act, 1933, provided for certain formalities in regard to coins accepted as legal tender in New Zealand. The Act required that the standard weight and composition of the coins should be determined by proclamation. “The distinctive New Zealand silver coins have been in circulation for some time, with the exception of the special Centennial half-crown which will be issued for the first time in January next,” said Mr. Nash. “As regards the distinctive New Zealand bronze coins, these have only recently been released through the Reserve Bank. These bronze coins would also have been issued for the first time in January, but stocks of Imperial coin proved insufficient to meet the public demand and consequently an earlier issue was necessary. New Zealand has now a complete and distinctive range of coins, the official description of which is contained in the proclamation.”

The dimensions and general designs of the Dominion’s silver and bronze coinage, as defined under the Coinage Act, 1933, are set out in the coinage proclamation, which is published in the form of a supplementary Gazette. The obverse side of the Centennial halfcrown will bear an uncrowned effigy of the King with the inscription, “George Sixth, King Emperor.” The design of the reverse impression will be a figure of a Maori woman, imposed on a background showing the sun overhead, with a Maori, warepuni and a puha’ra on her right and modern buildings on her left. The inscription will be “New Zealand Centennial HalfCrown” within the border and below on the scroll the dates 1840-1940.