248. , QUEENSLAND AGRICULTURAL JOURNAL. [1 Ave., 1901. 
schoolboy’s labour, the farmer’s calculations, and the commercial man’s monetary 
transactions. The rule for reducing & s. d. to farthings is to multiply successively 
by 20, 12, and 4; and, conversely, to reduce farthings to pounds we divide by 4, 
12, and 20. In the case of the proposed decimal coinage, if we wish to reduce, say, 
£25 to mils, we simply add three noughts; if we wish to turn mils into pounds, 
we cut off the three last figures by a comma, thus :—178972 mils become 
£178,972 mils. The 972 mils, by cutting off the last two figures, become 9 
florins 72 mils. So that the reduction of 178972 to higher values is effected 
by inserting two commas or points, and is thus shown to be £178 9 fl. 72 mils. 
The converse operation is performed by merely striking out the points. In 
subtraction the work is equally simple. In our present system we have a 
complicated carrying business and borrowing of different values. By the 
decimal system all subtraction is reduced to the simple rule. For instance: 
From £20 1 fl. 85 mils take £9 6 fl. 86 mils. We first reduce both quantities 
to mils by striking out the points. The question now resolves itself into taking 
9686 from 20185—a simple subtraction which gives a remainder of 10499 
mils.” The 10499 mils are converted into & fl. mils by the insertion of two 
points, thus :—£10 4 fl. 99 mils. 
Nothing can be more beautifully simple than this. The long compound 
tables boys and girls are now obliged to commit to memory are reduced to 
1,000 mils = £1; 100 mils = 1 florin. 
Take division again. We ask a pupil how many times £1 10s. 62d. are 
contained in £12 4s. 6d. What has he to do? He must reduce both sums to 
farthings and then divide. How is it done by the decimal system? Say it is 
required to know how many times £1 2 fl. 28 mils are contained in £9 8 fl. 
24 mils. The question resolves itself into how many times 1228 is contained 
in 9824 which may be seen by inspection to be 8 times. In the same simple 
way multiplication is performed. £9 8 fl. 24 mils multiplied by 9 becomes. 
9824 multiplied by 9, and the result, 88416, being mils, is expressed as £88 
4 fl. 16 mils. The operation of addition of money is equally simple. 
Now, if our weights and measures were also expressed decimally, quite 
two years’ work would be saved in a boy’s school life as far as compound rules 
are concerned. 
We have now said enough on the subject to show that a change from our 
antiquated system to the decimal system would prove of great advantage to all 
classes of the community. 
ORANGES IN THE UNITED KINGDOM. 
Few people have any idea of the enormous number of oranges consumed 
in Great Britain and Ireland. , 
In 1899 the imports totalled 8,553,713 bushels. There is a perpetual 
market for Australian oranges, provided they can be landed in good order and 
are properly graded and packed. It will be remembered that a shipment of 
oranges to Vancouver, graded and packed by Mr. A. H. Benson, Instructor in 
Fruit Culture, arrived at its destination in such excellent order that some of 
the fruit was sent on from Vancouver to Winnepeg, in Manitoba. The ship- 
ment, which consisted of 105 cases, came from the fruitgrowers at Woombye 
and Buderim Mountain. The results were satisfactory, the net return amounting 
to almost 4s. per case, oranges at the time selling locally at 2s. 6d. per case. 
In February, March, and April, the Messrs. Holt despatched three vessels 
fitted up with the dry air apparatus, carrying fruit from Melbourne at £8 15s. 
per ton of 40 cubic feet. The owners of the White Star line are followin 
suit, so that growers of citrus fruit in Queensland have the opportunity o 
getting their fruit home rapidly and in good condition. It only lies with them- 
selves to see that it is sent away under the best condition, and thus to establish 
a profitable trade. 
