Decimal Coinage (1962)

Johannesburg, South Africa.
L/S of Johannesburg with golden rocks in the foreground. Several street scenes in the city and shots of shop windows as commentator says South Africa has moved on to the decimal coinage system; two middle-aged women in flowerpot hats look at coats and clothes in a shop window display; the items have price tags in the old and new money. Other displays show tins of food and cleaning utensils. A man in the street looks at a poster on a wall explaining the difference between pounds and Rands. Great shots in a department store as women look at fabric in the haberdashery department (price labels in cents are clearly seen) and pay for goods; a sales assistant rings up 30 cents on the till.
In a village an African girl counts on her fingers; a white man with a chart explains the new monetary system to an African tribe dressed in bright striped robes. We hear a jingle explaining the new coinage that has been played on the radio - "Decimal Dan, the Rand Cent Man..." - very catchy! Several shots of coins and Rand notes being made at a mint; coins are sorted and examined then packed into sacks by African men. Good shots in a bank; Rand notes are counted out and added up.
In Penge, England, we see a female teacher in a maths class explaining the new South African monetary system and pointing to a chart on the blackboard which shows 'Suggested British Decimal Units'. The girls look on (rather blankly), the teacher writes an equation on the board, then the girls start tapping numbers into their adding machines. The teacher holds up a one Rand note, then writes on the board 'Suggested names for new decimal currency - Britannia / Royal' and '1965?'.
Note: Interesting look at decimalisation in South Africa, as Britain prepares (maybe!) for a similar monetary change. On file is a fold-out chart explaining the new Rand / cent system plus further information from the South African Embassy and correspondence from Pathe.
FILM ID:187.02
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[@Gumardee_coins_and_banknotes]

What is that old tech the school children were using?

[@bryanlam7232]

mechanical calculator

[@NandiCollector]

*Glad to see you here mate. :)*

[@Fummy007]

adding machine

[@chrisking4827]

i am not familiar with that particular model and certainly did not use at school. but they are called comtrometers.

[@davisdelp8131]

@@bryanlam7232 my god

[@jordanmcguire8142]

I like your funny words magic man

[@nathanventura548]

Pathé may want to consider disabling the comments section on this one...

[@Kiki012-Yakka]

"Have fun being an accountant in 1800." - anonymous

[@lekevire]

BritMonkey

[@alivestilldaniel]

What is the first that was playing ?

[@jmtradacc]

And still somehow USA thinks metric is hard

[@12time12]

We use metric for everything where it matters, for example semiconductor manufacturing and scientific research.

[@Lucas24997]

​@@12time12Yet you cant use it in your daily life.

[@archieames1968]

@@Lucas24997 Nobody cares enough to switch for boring simple mundane stuff. It doesn't really affect anything for Grandma to use ounces instead of milligrams in her cookie recipe. And if they don't care why should they? Metric is a tool whose purpose is to be used if and only if it actually improves things tangibly not as some social status signaling or as a cult.

[@andysims4906]

I’m in England Uk . Lots of us still use and prefer imperial measurements.

[@mirzaahmed6589]

What? The US has had decimal currency longer than any other country.

[@ClaudioMichel]

Can't find a music streaming service where I can get that song... I want it in my playlist... 🤣🤣🤣

[@kiwitrainguy]

It's better than the music used on the Aust & NZ decimal currency ads.

[@danielt.7153]

Decimal Dan

[@stefangherman8408]

A film in which I can see racism in the past of South Africa.

[@chickensprint]

You can see by the stark difference in standard of living

[@chickensprint]

@@UCLAfilm01 Lol, I'm just waiting for the Boers in South Africa to suffer the same fate as Zimbabwe

[@everythingerina9379]

@@chickensprint Hardly see The Khoisan

[@jamiehughes5573]

I mean one race has gone past the industrial revolution and one Is still technically in tribal era

[@alivestilldaniel]

@Jamie Hughes yeah and why is that you think colonialism?

[@adriank8676]

2:20 for the love of God don’t take the silver home with you.

[@Bodybuilder_Kingg]

Still it took them 10 more years to make their minds to become sensible.😂😂

[@PaisEnSerio]

45 years to end state racism under international community pressure

[@jackthehacker05]

148k views, 7 years, and all but 3 comments? You’re kidding!

[@PaisEnSerio]

2:08 Racism and capitalism explained in a few seconds

[@whorefortheman]

1:00 Even the narration can’t get around white supremacy in apartheid by referring to “the sophisticated townsfolk” and “villagers”. The racism is so real here. “the sophisticated townsfolk have found the new coinage easy to use. And it’s not difficult for the villagers either, especially if they use fingers!”

[@danielt.7153]

@@Boogenhagenn there was nothing wrong with apartheid, but SA was too independent and rich in resources

[@cormboy4177]

@@Boogenhagennit was not better you racist mongrel

[@FarberBob678]

good point

[@capt.jackaubrey5281]

Guess you'll have to cry about it

[@victoriaajang3272]

0.20.2

[@donwald3436]

1:04 Wow.

[@rumeunner3245]

I miss this SA

[@QuarioQuario54321]

🤨 Apartheid?

[@benjaminjones8782]

🤔🤔

[@joaovitormatos8147]

That's a weird way to say "I'm a white supremacist"

[@RaveDave871]

Looking at mess of South Africa today, no one can argue that Nelson Mandela has lot to answer for ! 😠 ☻

[@johanbjorkman1914]

It was always a mess for the black population, it's just that they have a voice now making it look like south Africa has gotten worse.😢

[@asiancat109]

Lol ur overeating

[@graysongolden4714]

I SAW AN ENSLAVED AFRICAN AMERICAN AT 2:20!!!!!!!! THAT'S NOT OKAY!

[@alexandersamuel5995]

He is not inslaved and he isn't American you dunce.

[@lucrio4088]

It’s almost as if discrimination was still rampant throughout the world in the 1960s…hmmmmmm….

[@oldensten3337]

American?

[@CA-ee1et]

@@oldensten3337 Don't expect a Septic to know the world exists beyond their own country.

[@legend_darkstar]

@@CA-ee1et it’s obviously a seppo

[@yackaquacker7992]

I hate decimal coinage. I want £/d back!

[@everythingerina9379]

you sure?

[@kaithescreaminglemon8768]

I do too and I’m only 15. Firstly it’d make division a lot easier for example in decimal if you divide £1 made up of 100p and divide it by 3 you end up with a silly amount of 33.33333333333333...p. Though with £sd if you had £1 (old) being made up of 240d (old) you get more things to divide it with for example if you divide it by 3 again you end up with 80d or about 6/8d. Those are only a few examples but it does show you the benefits of base-12. And a reintroduction of £sd would mean that mental arithmetic within in schools would increase and since in Britain we decimalised prices for everything have spiralled for example before we decimalised a pint of beer cost you 1 shilling but now you’d be lucky to find one that costs £2.00 and so you could argue that the old money is better as it has more purchasing power than most of our money today. So I fully agree with your statement as it is not only traditional but affective with overseas purchasing and purchasing within shops and supermarkets

[@everythingerina9379]

@@kaithescreaminglemon8768 Yeah but that's just inflation I don't think it has anything to do with decimal or non-decimal.

[@kaithescreaminglemon8768]

@@everythingerina9379 yes granted tho the reason that decimalisation had somewhat of an impact upon the economy was that the British government tried to fit 1 shilling, being 12 old pence, into five new pence and 240 old pence into 100 new pence which just didn’t work as opposed to what South Africa and Australia did where they used the ten shilling method where they halved the value of the pound by making it made up of 10 shillings rather than twenty which meant that when they decimalised $1 would be equal to 10 shillings and and $2 would be equal to £1 hence why countries like Australia are so prosperous. So necessarily I’m not saying that we should return to pre-decimal but maybe decimalised the pound a lot better and the possible reintroduction of the old £sd would possibly be better for today’s world and the economy

[@everythingerina9379]

@@kaithescreaminglemon8768 Well you've got a point there. But still, I don't think anyone would want to go back to pre-decimal it's just an unhelpful way of pricing things. And Decimal is way easier than pounds shillings and pence that's why the Americans and French have been using the decimal system since the 1700s.

[@MrAdriancooke]

Black people looked happy under apartheid

[@IIllIIIlll]

Why don't you ask them how they felt instead of making assumptions based on quaint old films

[@MrAdriancooke]

@@IIllIIIlll At least they had jobs then: money in the pocket and food on the table is the main thing that matters to most people

[@cmtheone]

@@MrAdriancooke wow you’re delusional

[@TheGloriousLobsterEmperor]

God you can't go 10 seconds on anything featuring South Africa without some spastic moron whining about how apartheid isn't a thing any more.

[@frederickhudson5017]

If they were happy why didn't it last? Oh yes that's right THEY WEREN'T, and I'd imagine you'd be as well if you were not even a citizen of the country you lived in. Just because current day South Africa isn't doing well doesn't make the racist apartheid system good or moral.