(1) This Act may be cited as the Decimal Currency Act 1964.

(2) Parts 1, 4, and 5 shall come into force on the passing of this Act.

(3) Parts 2 and 3 shall come into force on a date to be appointed by the Governor-General by Proclamation.

In this Act, unless the context otherwise requires,—

This Act shall extend to and be in force in the following territories:

• (a) the Cook Islands:

• (b) Tokelau.

This Act shall bind the Crown.

(1) The monetary unit, or unit of currency, of New Zealand shall be the dollar.

(2) The denominations of money in the currency of New Zealand shall be the dollar and the cent.

(3) A cent is one-hundredth part of a dollar.

(4) The equivalent in the currency provided for by this Act of 1 pound in the existing currency shall be 2 dollars, the like equivalent of 1 shilling shall be 10 cents, and the like equivalent of 1 penny shall be five-sixths of a cent.

Every sale, payment, bill of exchange, promissory note, and security for money, and every contract, agreement, deed, instrument, transaction, dealing, matter, and thing whatsoever relating to money or involving the payment of or a liability to pay any money, that is made, executed, entered into, or done in New Zealand shall be made, executed, entered into, or done according to the currency of New Zealand provided for by this Act, unless it is made, executed, entered into, or done according to the currency of a country other than New Zealand.

(1) Subject to the provisions of this section—

• (a) every reference in any enactment passed or made before the commencement of this Part; and

• (b) every reference in any bill of exchange, promissory note, security for money, contract or agreement (whether the contract or agreement is in writing or not), deed, or instrument made, executed, or entered into before the commencement of this Part; and

• (c) every reference made before the commencement of this Part in any other manner whatsoever—

to an amount of money in the existing currency shall, unless the context is such that it would be inappropriate, be construed as a reference to a corresponding amount of money in decimal currency, calculated on the basis of the equivalents specified in subsection (4) of section 5.

(2) Subject to subsection (3), where any such reference as aforesaid is to a percentage or other proportion expressed in terms of money, the reference shall be construed as a reference to an equivalent percentage or proportion expressed in terms of money in decimal currency.

(3) Where any such reference as aforesaid is to an amount of pence, either alone or in addition to an amount of pounds or shillings, and it is necessary for the purpose of making a payment thereunder to ascertain the sum in decimal currency that corresponds to the sum that would have been required to make the payment in the existing currency, the following provisions shall apply:

• (a) the sum that would have been required to make the payment in the existing currency shall be ascertained in pounds, shillings, and pence:

• (b) that sum shall be converted into decimal currency on the basis of the equivalents specified in subsection (4) of section 5.

(4) In this section the term enactment means—

• (a) any Act of the Parliament of New Zealand; and

• (b) any Act of the Parliament of England or of the Parliament of Great Britain or of the Parliament of the United Kingdom, being an Act that is in force in New Zealand; and

• (c) any Ordinance of the Legislative Assembly of the Cook Islands or of the Niue Assembly, and any Island Ordinance or bylaw of an Island Council in any island forming part of the Cook Islands; and

• (d) any Ordinance or other law in force in Tokelau; and

• (e) any regulation, rule, order, bylaw, or instrument made under the authority of or having effect by virtue of any such Act, Ordinance, bylaw, or other law as aforesaid, and in force in New Zealand or in any territory or part of a territory to which this Act extends by virtue of section 3.

Where any enactment, as defined in section 7, being an enactment passed or made before the commencement of this Part, prescribes or provides for a form that refers to an amount of money in the existing currency, or a form that provides for an amount of money to be specified in that currency, any person using the form may fill it in in such a manner as to specify the equivalent of that amount in decimal currency.