IS A NEW COIN NEEDED?

Manawatu Herald, Volume XLIII, Issue 2236, 8 February 1921, Page 1

IS A NEW COIN NEEDED?

Witlv the great rise in prices, the penny has ceased to suffice for a great proportion of its former purposes, and two of more copper coins are often necessary in place of one. The inconvenience which has thus befn caused has suddenly been intensified in London by the adoption of the new scale ol fares on the underground railways, tramways, and omnibus lines. This has now made Ilu’oe-halfpence the normal unit of passenger fares, and led to widespread complaints of the insufficienev of the supply of halfpence. The obvious suggestion Ims been |>ut forward thill a new three-hall penny piece should be minted to serve the new need; while if a coin of this value were adopted, there is a general opinion that it should be of nickel. The advantage of a threehalfpenny coin Would not be small, so long as three-halfpence remains the ' standard unit in petty cash transactions. Rut the multiplication of units of: coinage has itself some disadvantages chief among them, from the point of view of the general public, being the risk of confusion. Moreover, the institution of three-halfpenny pieces would at once tend to raise to threehalf pence the price of everything that is still sold for a penny.