DOMINION CURRENCY

Otago Daily Times, Issue 22022, 3 August 1933, Page 12

DOMINION CURRENCY

THE DECIMAL SYSTEM. In the course of a statement regarding the Coinage Committee at the annual meeting of the New Z-'aland Numismatic Society recently, Mr Allan Sutherland, hon. secretary of the society, and a member of the committee, said that, whilst he agreed with the report of the committee that, in view of the cost involved in a time of severe economic stress, the present was not an opportune time for a change to a decimal system, he was more tiimlv convinced than ever that the decimal system was infinitely superior to the fractional system, and that the time muss come when the Dominion would fall into line with what was practically the universal system of coinage. The Coinage Committee left the position entirely open for the future, and recorded a suggestion made to it when the question be revived in 1940, when commemorative coins might be issued to mark the centenary ol New Zealand, and when, it was hoped, the cost factor would have assumed smaller proportions. “ Decimalists may rest assured, he said, “that the perpetuation of the existing denominations does not necessarily raise insuperable obstacles in the way of a change-over at a more convenient tune, <as every one of the silver coins proposed to be minted can be fitted into a decimal system of coinage. Under the crown-ceut system (standard of value 5s note or crown equal to 100 cents) all the coins in circulation could be given an exact decimal equivalent with the exception of the bronze penny and halfpenny. Thu, however, is a matter for the future. As an enthusiastic decimalist, I would advise fellow numismatists to await a more opportune time before again pressing for what appears to be a very desirable re> form in our coinage system.”