DECIMAL COINAGE.

New Zealand Herald, Volume XXXIX, Issue 11872, 25 January 1902, Page 1 (Supplement)

DECIMAL COINAGE.

[BY WILHELMINA SHERRIFf BAIN".] : Inertia would be the most- extraordinary characteristic of; humankind if it were not so very ordinary. We belong to an age of lightning surprises: discoveries in science, invention following invention, innovations; of every sort; we should be alert in every direct and we are not. Many a stumblingblock that has impeded civilisation for centuries is allowed to lie untouched, unheeded save for the woeful toil with which.it must be surmounted. Patiently as valorously we clamber over the monstrous thing, generation after generation bruising and exhausting body and mind in long, laborious effort; though one tithe, maybe one-hundredth part, of such exertion would suffice to waive aside the obstruction from the highway.

No one section of the race monopolises capacity to perpetuate the blunders of antiquity. Wherever the intelligent traveller goes he observes manners and customs that amaze him by their onght-to-be-obsoiete-ness; then, as a very 'general rule, he returns to his own country in full and undisputed practice of some mannerism that belonged more rightfully by far to his longdeparted progenitors. We Britishers are not the least intelligent, • and we colonials are not the least nomadic of earth's peoples. Yet we cling with absurdly faithful pertinacity to fashions that our neighbours deride, secure in the consciousness that they are British, and therefore must and shall endure. % _ . For example, our coinage and our weights and measures are glaring anomalies, patent to every • nationality but our own. They cost untold time and money to the whole commercial world, they are a burden grievous to be borne unto the teaching profession, and they are a positive doom to the poor little children whom— • immense cost—we profess to educate. Spasmodic attempts have been made for fifty years past to introduce that system which alone has been legalised by Nature. In 1853 a Select ' Com-; mittee concluded a lengthy report to the House of Commons as follows: " Your Committee, . having well weighed the comparative merits of the existing system of coinago and the decimal system, and the obstacles which must necessarily be met with in passing from the one to the other, desire to repeat their decided opinion of the superior advantages of the decimal system, and 1 to record their conviction that the obstacles referred to are not of a nature to create any doubt of the expediency of introducing that system as soon as the requisite preparations shall have been . made for the purpose, by means of cautious but decisive action on the part of the Government." In 1855 , the House carried these resolutions : "1. In the opinion of this House the initiation of the decimal system by the issue of the florin has been eminently successful' and satisfactory. 2. A further, extension ot the system will be of public advantage." In 1857 a Royal Commission reported in favour of altering the coinage if weights and measures were also decimalised. Prussia, Hamburg, South Genu any, Austria, Scandinavia .were then lagging along with their respective no-systems; but, since 1857, these countries have all adopted decimalisation, and still Britain and some \of her "colonies blunder on with - th» : cumbrous t complications evelved many centuries ago. Whilst he was Governor of Ceylon Sir Her-, cules Robinson decimalised the rupee of that; island. The native traders had bitterly prognosticated ruin: but a fortnight after, the change was effected everyone was satisfied. :!■ In 1888 a Montreal banker wrote: "I was a resident of Canada at the time when the change from the old notation of pounds, shillings, and pence to a decimal system took place, and can speak without hesitation of the saving in time and other conveniences which ensued. '. . . . I am not; sure whether the adoption of the decimal system has not one drawback.. The English method requires and develops a much higher ■ degree of. arithmetical ability than ours and • that of the United States."

This "drawback" may be cheerfully accepted when it is realised that' our present arithmetic costs the average child three years of existence. Let the true educationalist compute the development in knowledge, physique, and character which might be accomplished within those precious three':.- years;: let the humanitarian reflect on the gain which would thus ensue ; and let the taxpayer demand the cessation of our present criminal waste.

Of the various coinage schemes which have been advocated that which makes a double florin its unit seems to be preferable. The sovereign might be retained—as . are the American eagle, French napoleon, and Russian imperial—also the florin and the shilling ; and the dime, half dime, and cent might be introduced. The double florin or British dollar would probably be adopted by Canada-and United States,\since assimilation would be easy and beneficial to all concerned. Everyone would speedily learn, that a dollar was equal to four shillings, a dime fivepence, and a cent one halfpenny. , Just as naturally as it was effected in Ceylon could the change be made all over the English-speak-ing world. Within a month or two thatworld would feel a tremendous impetus on its onward way, and would realise the necessity to reorganise its weights and measures on decimal principles. The currency reform need not be delayed until weights and measures be systematized. Step by step is a very good method, and the step most easy of accomplishment ought to be the first attempted. Our present need is to have such expression of public requirement on the whole matter as shall constrainour New Zealand Legislature to initiate decimal coinage, ceasing to anticipate such initiation from the Old Land just as it ceased to anticipate the inauguration of penny postage by any authority but its own. Our Teachers' Associations and our Chambers of Commerce could unite iu devising a schedule of coinage to be placed before next meeting of Parliament, and in advocating its immediate adoption. Some such scheme as the subjoined might be found suitable: —

Dots. Cents. Sovereign ... 5 equals 500 Double florin, British Dollar ... 1 equals 100 Florin . J equals 50 Half florin, shilling i equals 25 Dime, new silver coin 1-10 equals 10 Half-dime ... 1-20 equals 5 Cent, new copper coin 1-100 equals 1 Tho half-sovereign, crown and half-crown, sixpence ant l threepence, penny, and halfpenny to be gradually withdrawn, as the fourpenny, twopenny, etc., have been withdrawn. -■ ' Now is the time to act, now is the opportunity to arise from that inertia which makes our arithmetic a foreign reproach and a national disability.