IN OUR OWN COIN

Press, Volume CV, Issue 30977, 5 February 1966, Page 14

IN OUR OWN COIN

IBu

WHIM WHAM]

: • 1 . l e designs of the new New Zealand decimal <-n<n. RL ace l be,ore P anels of experts before coined the Mint. "For instance, the Maori design was cleared hv Maori experts, the picture of the footballer was shown L„ pr “™ t " e „ nt . member ‘he Rugby Union, and the muster ing design to a number of musterers Mv is to know what the average citizen thinks .Mr Mhilg! 1 Parliamentary Under-secretary to the Minuter of "“nanceOh, Sir, what rotten bad luck for Mr Muldoon That those decimal Coin Designs leaked out so

soon; The Average Citizen shouldn’t have had a Hint Till the finishing Touches were All okayed bv the Mint. 3 y We’d have been spared What looks all-too-probable now, Another Beehive-style Battle or sordid Art Row How many Average Citizens really care about What’s On Them so long as They fit the Parking-meter Slots And all the other Slots, and how many have the Time To study the Maori Motifs that adorn the Kiwi Dime? To how many Citizens is the Point material, Whether a Tin of Salmon or a Breakfast Cereal Inspired the Design of the Fifty, the Twenty the Five? You can’t please Everybody, however you striveOne Man’s Masterpiece is another Man’s Jam Label, And it’s not the Design on the Back that keeps the Currency stable. If the Musterer’s Horse isn’t right in every Detail, That won’t affect Business, either Wholesale or Retail Anywav, Musterers have studied It, and THEY’RE fully Satisfied, having (I suppose) counted the Legs carefully. One of my Prominent Rugby Friends Isn't altogether Happy with the 20-cent Footballer, he wonders whether The Chap’s Boots don’t look a Bit slonpilv tied. And Why Tom Pearce’s Head isn’t on the Obverse Side? Sir, generally speaking, the only Opinions which amount To Anything seem to have been taken into Account Sir, DEAR Sir, and Mr Muldoon, I entreat You, Take a Strong Line and don’t let the Art Boys defeat You, Don’t worrv either about WHAT THEY WILL SAY OVERSEAS, Don’t let Them tell You that we can’t do WORSE than These, We can do W’orse. all right, we infallibly will. And Who's ”oing to notice at the Counter and in the Till? And Nothing short of Genius could more exquisitely express Than such Coins, the Essence of Kiwi Tastelessness!