The Daily News. FRIDAY, JULY 2. EXIT THE HALF-CROWN.

Taranaki Daily News, 2 July 1909, Page 2

The Daily News. FRIDAY, JULY 2. EXIT THE HALF-CROWN.

The announcement that tile new Commonwealth silver mint is not going to i>;ue the half-crown is decidedly inter;'rating, as showing Hint the conservatism which lias marked the, British sy«1 Lorn of the arithmetic of coinage and I weights' and measures is at last giving way, in one particular at least, to a i more progressive system, of calculation. The announcement is further interesting us a reminder that the Commonwealth is about to begin to mint its own silrer and copper coins. Kor years it has had the privilege of coining gold, mi onerous privilege which carried no profit. Now tin- very profitable work of coining (diver and copper in the name of the King is to be amongst its trusts. It is another small sign of the recognition of the growth of Australian nationalism. . The decision oi the Commonwealth against coining the halfcrown has not been unopposed, and brought about without a stubborn re: sistance to modern ideas "of coinage reform. The half-crown is very desirable as money; u-, a coin it is one of the stumbling blocks in the n.ty of decimal coinage, and ii quite unnecessary stumbling block. Its abolition will bring nearer a reformed coiling. l , and will interfere with no existing convenience. .The llrilis'h system of the arithmetic of coinage. Ati I of weights and measures is a decided! handicap. It handicaps every child vjith a heap of useless hauler on ilic inarch towards knowledge. The French r'lild may learn all the measurement rules in a few hours; there is a standard coin, and every sum is a tenth, o$ fi hundred times, or some other decimal part of it. There is, similarly, a stlaiidaid weight and a standard measure, every quantity is a decimal parij ' »f p it ions with 'ill their corat|'k-jilies arc abolished. The processes! <r multiplication, addition, siFbstract|ioii,calciilation, arc reduced to the siuipll'sit. The work of memorising fetrtyigc tabta. i« which :)!l'/i or sonicent sor.Vijt//' Jinn w make ditlrrvnt wrist mctic coiBM 1"' grasped by a reasonable in a day. British years for the child to first step towards sensible decimal coinage. And it i>' The sovereign could standard of value,

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