Decimal Currency Act 1966

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3. Decimal currency system established
4. Contracts, etc., to be made in decimal currency
5. Construction of references to existing currency, and method of conversion for payments
5A. When Minister may determine amount payable
6. Forms
6A. Altering currency in bill of exchange or promissory note
6B. Payment of sum in existing currency by bill or note in decimal currency
6C. Acknowledgment of payment during transitional period

7. Standard composition and weight of coins
8. Minister may issue coins
8A. Use of certain other coins in existing currency during transitional period
9. Advisory or technical committees
10. Coins may be called in
11. Prohibition of other than official coins

PART IV
POWERS TO MAKE ARRANGEMENTS FOR THE INTRODUCTION OF THE DECIMAL CURRENCY SYSTEM

14. Minister's powers to make arrangements
15. Adapting or replacing approved machines
16. Repealed
17. Closing of banks

AN ACT to provide for a system of decimal currency, and to make provision with respect to coinage, legal tender, and matters incidental to the foregoing purposes.

(16 March 1966)
(Commencement date Parts I, IV, and V – 16 March 1966)

(2) Parts I, IV, and V of this Act shall come into force on the passing of this Act.

(3) Parts II and III of this Act shall come into force on a date to be appointed by the Head of State acting on the advice of Cabinet by Proclamation.

"Approved machine" means a machine or instrument designed for use in connection with the existing currency system or any similar system of currency, being:

(a) A machine or instrument used or intended for use solely or principally for the purpose of calculating or recording amounts of money, including an accounting machine or any similar machine, an adding machine or any similar machine, a machine for franking postal articles, a cash register, a machine or instrument for use in connection with a punched card system and price computing scales; or

(b) Any other machine or instrument included in a class or kind of machines or instruments declared by the Minister, by notice in the Gazette or Savali, to be an approved class or kind of machines or instruments for the purposes of Part IV.

(b) Any document, not being a bill of exchange, issued by a customer of a banker, which is intended to enable a person to obtain payment from that banker of the sum mentioned in the document;

(c) Any document, not being a bill of exchange, issued by an official in the service of the Government, which is intended to enable a person to obtain payment from the Public Account, or any other Government Account under the Public Finance Management Act 2001, of the sum mentioned in the document; and

(d) Any draft payable on demand drawn by a banker upon himself, whether payable at the head office or some other office of his bank.

"Decimal currency" means the currency of Samoa at the passing of this Act; and "the decimal currency system" has a corresponding meaning.

"Existing currency" means the currency provided for by Part II; and "the existing currency system" has a corresponding meaning.

"Transitional period" means the period commencing on the date of the coming into force of Part II and ending with a date to be appointed by the Head of State acting on the advice of Cabinet by Proclamation.

3. Decimal survey system established - (1) The monetary unit, or unit of currency, of Samoa shall be the tala.

(2) The denominations of money in the currency of Samoa shall be the tala and the sene.

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

(5) The following symbols may be used to designate the denominations of currency: tala: $: sene: s.

(6) No bill of exchange, promissory note, security for money, contract, agreement, deed or instrument relating to money or involving the payment of or a liability to pay any money shall be invalidated by reason merely of the omission to include one or both of the accent bars over the letter "a" in any use of the word "tala", and the same shall be read and construed as if both of those accent bars were included.

4. Contracts, etc., to be made in decimal currency - (1) Every sale, purchase, 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 Samoa shall be made, executed, entered into, or done according to the currency of Samoa provided for by this Act, unless it is made, executed, entered into, or done according to the currency of a country other than Samoa.

(2) Notwithstanding subsection (1), any act or document therein referred to may be made, executed, entered into or done according to the existing currency during the transitional period.

(3) Any act or document referred to in subsection (1) which does not comply with that subsection, or, during the transitional period, with subsection (2), shall be invalid and of no effect.

(4) Nothing in this section shall operate to invalidate a will or other testamentary instrument.

5. Construction of references to existing currency, and method of conversion for payments - (1) In this section, the term "enactment" includes:

(c) Any Act of the Parliament of England, Great Britain or the United Kingdom, and any Order in Council thereof, which is in force in Samoa; and

(e) Any regulation, rule, order, bylaw, proclamation, notice or other instrument which is in force in Samoa, made in New Zealand or in Samoa, under the authority of or having effect by virtue of any such Act, Order in Council or Ordinance.

(a) Every reference in any enactment passed or made before the commencement of this Part of this Act or during the transitional period; 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 or during the transitional period; and

(c) Every reference made before the commencement of this Part or during the transitional period 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 section 3(4) but subject to subsection (4) of this section.

(3) Subject to subsection (4), 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.

(4) Where any such reference as aforesaid is to an amount of pence or to a fraction of a penny or to both, 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 section 3(4) except that pence amounting to less than one shilling shall be converted into sene on the basis that an amount of pence specified in the first column of the Second Schedule corresponds to the amount of sene specified in the second column of that Second Schedule opposite that amount of pence.

5A. When Minister may determine amount payable - Where any amount expressed in the existing currency is payable to or by the Government, and that amount is required to be converted into decimal currency and cannot be completely converted in accordance with section 5(4)(b), the Minister may determine the amount payable in decimal currency, but so as not to exceed the amount payable in the existing currency, and his determination shall be final and binding on the Government and its debtor or creditor, as the case may be.

6. Forms - Where any enactment, as defined in section 5, being an enactment passed or made before the commencement of this Part or during the transitional period, 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 complete it in such a manner as to specify the equivalent of that amount in decimal currency.

6A. Altering currency in bill of exchange or promissory note - Where at any time it is necessary to alter any sum specified in any bill of exchange or promissory note issued or made according to the existing currency, for the purpose of facilitating its negotiation, collection or payment, and the alteration is made in accordance with section 5(4)(b), the alteration shall not render the bill or note void as against any party.

6B. Payment of sum in existing currency by bill or note in decimal currency - Where a bill of exchange or promissory note issued or made in decimal currency is taken in respect of any sum payable in the existing currency, the conversion of that sum into decimal currency shall be made in accordance with section 5(4)(b).

6C. Acknowledgment of payment during transitional period - Where in respect of any payment made during the transitional period it is necessary, by reason of the use of a machine or instrument that operates according to the existing currency, to provide an acknowledgment expressed in the existing currency, the reference in the acknowledgment to the sum paid shall be construed as a reference to the corresponding sum in decimal currency, calculated in accordance with section 5(4)(b).

7. Standard composition and weight of coins - (1) The standard composition of the coins of the denominations specified in the First Schedule shall be as specified in that Schedule.

8. Issue of Coins - (1) The Minister may cause to be made and issued commemorative coins in the quantity directed by the Board of Directors of the Central Bank of Samoa of the denominations specified in the First Schedule.

(1A) The Minister may authorise the issue of coins by the Central Bank of Samoa in the denominations specified in the First Schedule and in such quantity as may be recommended from time to time by the Board of Governors of the Central Bank of Samoa.

(a) Shall be of the standard composition specified in that Schedule in relation to that coin; and

(b) Shall be of the standard weight, and of the design and dimensions, prescribed in relation to that coin.

(3) In the making of any such coin, a remedy in respect of weight (that is to say, a variation from the standard weight applicable to the coin) shall be allowable as prescribed.

(4) The cost of all commemorative coins so made and issued, including freight, insurance, the cost of manufacture, and all incidental expenses, shall be paid out of the Treasury fund as statutory expenditure.

(5) During the transitional period the following coins in the existing currency, namely the florin or 2 shillings, the shilling and the sixpence, shall be deemed for all purposes to be decimal coins duly made and issued under this Act of the denominations of 20 sene, 10 sene and 5 sene respectively.

8A. Use of certain other coins in existing currency during transitional period - During the transitional period, and unless in respect of any transaction the parties otherwise agree:

(a) Coins in the existing currency of the denominations specified in the first column of the Third Schedule shall, on the basis of the equivalent decimal values specified in the second column of that Third Schedule opposite those denominations, be exchangeable for decimal coins in lots only of 5 sene's worth or a multiple thereof; and

(b) A tender of payment in such coins shall accordingly, if made in the same lots, be a legal tender for the payment of an amount not exceeding 20 sene.

9. Advisory or technical committees - (1) Cabinet may appoint such advisory or technical committees as it thinks fit for the purpose of making recommendations to the Minister in respect of coins or assisting the Minister in the carrying out of his or her other functions under this Act.

(2) The Minister may confer additional functions under this Act on any such committee.

(3) Cabinet may appoint any person to be member, and any member to be the chairperson, of any such committee, notwithstanding that he is not a Cabinet Minister nor any other Member of Parliament nor an employee of the Government.

(4) All members of any such committee shall hold office during the pleasure of Cabinet, but any member may at any time resign his or her office by writing addressed to the Minister.

(5) There may from time to time be paid, out of money appropriated by the Legislative Assembly for the purpose, to each member of any such committee who is not a full-time salaried employee of the Government:

(a) Any travelling expenses reasonably incurred by the member in respect of the performance of his or her duties as a member of a committee; and

(b) Such sum as Cabinet from time to time approves by way of fees or allowances in respect of each day or part of a day which such member spends upon the business of a committee.

(6) Cabinet may deem any such approval to have come into force from any date before it was made.

10. Coins may be called in - (1) The Head of State acting on the advice of Cabinet may from time to time, by Proclamation, call in any coins of any date or denomination issued under this Act or the Coinage Act 1933 (NZ) or any coins so issued and bearing dates earlier than a date specified in the Proclamation.

(2) Every Proclamation under this section shall have effect from such date as is specified in the Proclamation in that behalf, and may at any time be revoked or altered by any subsequent Proclamation.

(3) This section shall not apply to coins issued by the Central Bank of Samoa.

11. Prohibition of other than official coins - (1) Subject to subsection (2), no person shall make or issue, or cause to be made or issued, any piece of gold, silver, copper, bronze, nickel, tin or zinc or of any metal or mixed metal, of any value whatsoever, other than a coin made or issued under this Act, as a coin or as a token for money or as purporting that the holder thereof is entitled to demand any monetary or other value denoted on it.

(2) The Central Bank of Samoa may in its discretion and subject to such conditions, if any, as it thinks fit authorise the use of tokens purporting to entitle the holder thereof to demand goods or services, and may at any time revoke any authority so given.

(3) Every person commits an offence and is liable to a fine not exceeding 10 penalty units who acts in contravention of or fails to comply with any of the provisions of this section or of any condition imposed thereunder.

12. Coins as legal tender - (1) A tender of payment of money, if it is made in coins made and issued under this Act, of current weight and not called in pursuant to this Act, shall be a legal tender:

(a) In the case of coins of the denomination of $1, for the payment of any amount;

(b) In the case of coins of the denomination of 5 sene, 10 sene, 20 sene, or 50 sene, for the payment of an amount not exceeding $5;

(2) For the purposes of this section, a coin shall be deemed to be not of current weight if it has become diminished in weight by wear or otherwise so as to be of less weight than the weight prescribed as the least current weight of that coin.

(3) Nothing in this Act shall be construed to prevent being a legal tender any note of the Bank of Samoa which is a legal tender by virtue of section 13 of the Bank of Samoa Ordinance 1959.

13. Repeals - (1) Section 3 of the Currency and Exchange Ordinance 1961 is hereby repealed.

(2) The following enactments are hereby repealed as part of the law of Samoa. Section 364 of the Samoa Act 1921 (NZ) as substituted by section 39 of the Samoa Amendment Act 1959 (NZ), sections 39 and 40 of the Samoa Amendment Act 1959 (NZ), the Coinage Act 1933 (NZ), section 6 of the Finance Act (No.2) 1936 (NZ) and section 31 of the Finance Act 1947 (NZ).

(3) All Coinage proclamations made in New Zealand under the Coinage Act 1933 (NZ) are hereby repealed and revoked as part of the law of Samoa.

PART IV
POWERS TO MAKE ARRANGEMENTS FOR THE INTRODUCTION OF THE DECIMAL CURRENCY SYSTEM

14. Minister's powers to make arrangements - The Minister, on behalf of the State, may do such things, make such arrangements, and enter into such agreements as the Minister considers necessary for the purpose of facilitating the transition from the existing currency system to the decimal currency system.

15. Adapting or replacing approved machines - (1) Without limiting the generality of section 14, the Minister may:

(a) On behalf of the State, make such arrangements and enter into such agreements as the Minister thinks fit for or in relation to the conversion of adaptation, for use in connection with the decimal currency system, of such approved machines as the Minister thinks fit, or the replacement of any such machines with machines suitable for use in connection with the decimal currency system, as statutory expenditure;

(b) Approve the making of payments, as statutory expenditure, of such amounts as the Minister determines, by way of compensation in respect of such other approved machines as the Minister thinks fit.

(a) For the State to bear the whole or any part of the cost of converting or adapting an approved machine for use under the decimal currency system, or of replacing any such machine with a machine suitable for use under the decimal currency system;

(b) For the making of advances by the State, upon or subject to such terms and conditions as the Minister thinks fit, to the person with whom the arrangement or agreement is made, for the giving of guarantees or indemnities by the State in respect of advances made to that person by any other person, for the purpose of assisting the first-mentioned person to carry out his obligations under the arrangement or agreement.

16. Repealed by section 2 of the Reprint of Statutes (Miscellaneous Provisions) Act 1975.

17. Closing of banks - (1) For the purpose of facilitating the transition from the existing currency system to the decimal currency system, the Minister may, by notice in the Gazette, appoint a day or days during which the Bank of Samoa (including its Savings Bank) and the Post Office Savings Bank shall be closed to the public.

(2) For the same purpose, the Minister may, by the same or any other notice in the Gazette prescribe the hours during which the business premises of the Bank of Samoa (including its Savings Bank) and the Post Office Bank shall be open for business on all or any days of the week (other than Saturday and Sunday) during a period specified in the notice, not exceeding one month, following the day or days appointed under subsection (1).

(3) Any notice under this section may be made to apply wholly or partly to such Bank and Savings Banks, or to any specified one or more of them, or to any specified branch or branches or premises or agency or agencies thereof.

(4) Every notice under this section shall have effect according to its tenor, notwithstanding the provisions of any enactment.

(5) Any day appointed by the Minister under subsection (1) shall be deemed to be a non-business day for the purposes of the Bills of Exchange Act 1908 (NZ) in its application to Samoa.

18. Regulations - The Head of State acting on the advice of Cabinet may from time to time make regulations for all or any of the following purposes:

(a) Prescribing the standard weights, least current weights, designs, and dimensions of coins for the purposes of Part III, and the remedies allowable in the making of such coins;

(b) Prescribing or regulating the manner in which payments for the purposes of section 14 or section 15 are to be made and applied;

(c) Providing for and regulating the registration of approved machines for the purposes of Part IV; providing for returns and applications to be made to the Minister in respect of such machines and the persons or classes of persons by whom such returns are to be made; and providing for the verification of such returns;

(d) Prescribing or regulating the procedure of any advisory or technical committee appointed under this Act;

(e) Providing for such matters as are contemplated by or necessary for giving full effect to the provisions of this Act and for the due administration thereof.

19. Revocation - The Samoa Importation and Exportation of Coinage Order 1932, (1932, N.Z. Gazette page 2037) is hereby repealed and revoked as part of the law of Samoa.

Denomination of Coin	Standard Composition
$1	Copper and nickel
50 sene	Copper and nickel
20 sene	Copper and nickel
10 sene	Copper and nickel
5 sene	Copper and nickel
2 sene	Copper, tin and zinc
1 sene	Copper, tin and zinc

First Column	Second Column
Amount of Pence	Amount of Sene
1	1
2	2
3	2
4	3
5	4
6	5
7	6
8	7
9	8
10	8
11	9

EQUIVALENT DECIMAL VALUES OF EXISTING COINS, EXCHANGEABLE FOR DECIMAL COINS DURING TRANSITIONAL PERIOD

First Column	Second Column
Denomination of Coin	Equivalent Decimal Value

Three pence	Two and a half sene
A penny	Five sixths of a sene
A half penny	Five twelths of a sene

The Decimal Currency Act 1966 appearing in this reprint comprised that Act as it appears in the 1977 reprint together with amendments as set out below:

Section 8: The words "in the quantity" directed by the Board of Directors of the Central Bank of Samoa were added in subsection (1) by the Schedule to the Central Bank of Samoa Act 1984. The section was further amended by substituting the present heading; by adding the word "commemorative;" adding a new subsection (1A); and substituting the words: "all commemorative coins" in subsection (4), by section 10 of the Central Bank of Samoa and Decimal Currency Amendment Act 1993.

Section 10: Subsection (3) was added by section 11 of the above 1993 Amendment Act.

Section 11: The words "Central Bank of Samoa" in subsection (2) were substituted by the Schedule to the above 1984 Act.

This law has been generally edited as provided for by section 5 of the Revision and Publication of Laws Act 2008. The following general revisions have been made –

(a) References to Western Samoa have been amended to Samoa in accordance with an amendment to the Constitution of Samoa in 1997.

(d) Amendments have been made to conform to modern drafting styles and to use modern language as applied in the laws of Samoa.

(e) Amendments have been made to up-date references to offices, officers and statutes.

(f) Other minor editing has been done in accordance with the lawful powers of the Attorney General.

There were no amendments made to this law since the publication of the Western Samoa Statutes Reprint 1978-1996.

This law has been consolidated and revised by the Attorney General under the authority of the Revision and Publication of Laws Act 2008 and is an official version of this Act as at 31 December 2007. It is an offence to publish this Act without approval or to make any unauthorised change to an electronic version of this Act.

Revised and consolidated by Graham Bruce Powell
Under the supervision of Teleiai Lalotoa Sinaalamaimaleula Mulitalo (Parliamentary Counsel)

The commencement date for some Parts of the Act is incorporated. No commencement record was available for the rest of the Act. There were no amendments made to this law since the publication of the Consolidated and Revised Statutes of Samoa 2007.

This law has been consolidated and revised by the Attorney General under the authority of the Revision and Publication of Laws Act 2008 and is an official version of this Act as at 31 December 2008. It is an offence to publish this Act without approval or to make any unauthorised change to an electronic version of this Act.

Revised and consolidated by the Legislative Drafting Division under the supervision of Teleiai Lalotoa Sinaalamaimaleula Mulitalo (Parliamentary Counsel).

There were no amendments made to this law since the publication of the Consolidated and Revised Statutes of Samoa 2007.

This law has been consolidated and revised by the Attorney General under the authority of the Revision and Publication of Laws Act 2008 and is an official version of this Act as at 31 December 2009. It is an offence to publish this Act without approval or to make any unauthorised change to an electronic version of this Act.

Revised and consolidated by the Legislative Drafting Division under the supervision of Papalii Malietau Malietoa (Parliamentary Counsel).

Consolidated Acts of Samoa 2009

Decimal Currency Act 1966