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Press, Volume CV, Issue 31009, 15 March 1966, Page 17

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(N.Z. Press Assn—Copyright) SYDNEY, March 13. Australians are finding it hard to adapt to decimal currency. They still prefer to deal in pounds rather than dollars, although dollars have been in use for more than a month. One bank officer said, “the novelty of the decimal system has worn off and they have reverted to the old money.” Advertisers of goods, from blocks of land to baby powder, prefer to price their items in pounds, shillings and pence, because being half the dollar and cents equivalent, it is a psychological help for sales.

Many shops that compromised with dual pricing are giving up the idea. They have learned that if they price items without exact equivalents—such as 33 cents or 3s 4d—customers insist on paying in the currency most favourable to them. Even if it

does only mean a fraction of a penny difference. Some shops which opened as dollar shops on the change day have now reverted to pounds trading to keep in step with the other shops in the neighbourhood. People prefer to go to shops dealing in the more familiar money. There is no necessity for the mathematical gymnastics of conversion in a shop with prices in pounds. A few small stores are accepting any currency, unconcerned whether equivalents are exact. “I cannot afford to be fussy,” said a suburban shopkeeper. “I will accept four cents for fivepence or anything for anything. I must maintain goodwill.” People are still arguing oyer the finer points of converting the new currency. The Decimal Currency Board says five cents is equal to sixpence. But a shopkeeper in one suburb told a customer that

if two cents equalled threepence, then four cents equalled sixpence. The anachronism of it all is that the old currency is rapidly disappearing. An official at one Sydney bank said the 10 shilling, one pound and five pound notes have almost vanished. “They are rare in deposits,” he said. Customers find themselves in shops dealing in pounds, and have to convert their dollars into old currency. The Retail Traders’ Association will call on the Government to speed up the conversion plan “so the advantages of the new currency may be realised earlier."