European Stars and Stripes (Newspaper) - September 30, 1967, Darmstadt, Hesse Daily Magazine by Bob Hoyer staff writer i goodbye shillings and guineas. To at Long last Britain is reforming its currency. Foreigners have been cheering announcement of the change which will bring Decimal currency to her majesty s55 million subjects in 1971. But Many britons weaned on pounds shillings and Pence have expressed grave misgivings about the newfangled Decimal. Ill never get used to those blood Decimals said a cashier As she sweated Over a Pound shilling Pence Bill. Principal casualty of the switch Man dated by a 1967 act of parliament will be the shilling Bob to the Man in the Street. Passing into oblivion along with the shilling will be the Guinea 21 shillings Gold piece which was Britain s Mai Coin in the 18th Century. In contemporary times the Guinea has survived Only in name As a pricing unit there being no paper or Coin equivalent to match its 21-shilling value. Under the new system which will go into effect sometime in 1971 it could be As late As March 1 the pres ent Pound Sterling will be divided into 100 parliamentary act Calls for the minting of half Penny and one Penny and two five and 10-Pence pieces. A spokesman for the Decimal currency Board set up to expedite the change said that a 20 or 25-Pence Coin and a50-Pence Coin May be authorized later. Coins will be made at a new facility of the Royal mint near Cardiff Wales. The half Penny one Penny and two Pence coins will be minted in Copper the same material used in the present half Penny and one Penny coins. The five and 10-Penny coins will be Ofa White Metal presumably the same Nickel and Copper Alloy now used in theone shilling two shilling and half Crown two and a half shilling the new five Pence and 10 Pence pieces will be equal in value tothe present one and two shilling coins it is presumed the present coins will remain in circulation for a considerable time after Decimal Day the official Date of the change Over. The new five and 10-Pence coins will be the Sam size As the present one and two shill ing Decimal currency Board spokes Man predicted the present half Penny and half Crown coins will pass out of circulation before 1971 because they will have no equivalent under the new sys also said that if a 50-Pence Coin is approved it s possible it will replace the present 10-shilling paper note be cause it would be of identical value. The most expensive aspect of the changeover will be absorbed by business and Industry which must alter present accounting systems. This will mean new office equipment but in a number of cases machines now being made can be changed to saturday september 30, 1967 Decimal accounting by merely throwing Witch. British firms producing office machines prepared for the change at Home when they designed new equipment for Decimal systems in South Africa Australia and new Africa broke the ice in 1961 when it converted to the Rand 10 shill Ings As its Basic unit and divided it into 100 equal parts. Australia followed with the Dollar equivalent to its former 10 shillings three years later and new zealand adopted the Dollar 10 shillings earlier this year. A few nations still use the Pound a their primary units of currency and such British Commonwealth territories As Gibraltar Bermuda and Fiji actually employ British currency and will change to the British Decimal system in 1971. The Irish Republic has expressed a interest in changing to a Decimal sys tem but no Date has been set. The Iris currently employ a Pound shilling and Pence system and their Pound remain approximately on Par with the Pound Sterling. The Isle of Man off Britain s Westcoast and the Channel islands off France s Brittany coast Are governed in Dependently and operate currency sys tems roughly equivalent to the pres ent Pound shilling and Pence system of Britain changing to the Decimal system and with Ireland contemplating the change it would seem that these tiny Sovereign Isles ultimately will be forced to follow maintains the Pound As its principal unit of currency a hangover from British control but it is a Pound in name Only. Divided into 100 plasters the egyptian Pound has suffered severely since British withdrawal and has experienced its latest deflationary trem ors with the Arab israeli War. To dispel the misgivings of the Man in the Street about the new sys tem and to determine what Steps might be taken by retailers to expedite the changeover a London West end super Market experimented with a Decimal system earlier this year. Surprisingly few customers experienced any difficulty adjusting to the new system. Fort fare a Market which caters to the 1,000-member staff of j. Walter Thompson co., an advertising an Public relations firm used 2,000 sets of specially minted Decimal coins in y2,1, 2, 5, 10 and 50 Penny units. Leaflets and conversion tables we recirculated to the staff and strategically placed in the present Cash registers were re placed by Decimal registers for theone month trial. The District Bank maintained Money changing kiosks where present currency was changed to Decimal of the exchequer James Callaghan and mrs. Callaghan were among the most distinguished shoppers to participate in the Decimal shopping Experiment. Lord Erroll vice chairman of the Decimal currency Board said after visit to the supermarket that he found it quite easy to think in Decimal he pointed out that while shop Ping he experienced the sensation of spending More Money that he in fact . Walter Thompson also has distributed sets of Decimal coins to British schools to use As teaching aids. Schools received sets of the same denominations used in the supermarket Experiment along with Coin boxes decorated in the Union Jack Motif. Related to present Exchange value of the Pound $2.80 the experimental Pence coins have the following value sin . Currency half Penny 1.4 cents one Penny 2.8 cent two Pence 5.6 cent five Pence 14 cents 10 Pence 28 cents and 50 Pence $1.40. When Deo maj currency becomes be Gal gone forever will be those con founding conversions20 shillings to the Pound 12 Pence to the shilling which have confused foreigners for centuries in Britain. But if you Are British you no doubt will shed a tear for the shilling and tradition never Dies easy and the present system dates from the be ginnings of Anglo Saxon times. But there should be some Solace in the fac that the Pound itself has survived As the primary unit of imagine the protests if Parlia ment had decided to ditch the Pound for a British Dollar Chancellor of the exchequer James Callaghan and wife try out Decimal Money in Berkeley Square London. The stars and stripes Page 11
