A major reorganisation of security arrangements at the Royal Australian Mint was instituted since allegations of large-scale pilfering of newly minted coins or metal.
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An employee of the mint told The Canberra Times 53 years ago plain-clothes Commonwealth Police officers interrogated 60 employees.
"It seemed to be pretty common knowledge that a fair amount of money was being knocked off. It had apparently been going out in small packets every day, but it must have become too big to overlook," the employee said.
A rigid inspection system controlled the inflow of metal to the mint, the weight of every batch being carefully checked before being passed to the machines.
At the end of a run the metal trimmings and even filings were again weighed and the difference was the amount of coins produced.
It was understood discrepancies between weighing led to the security shake-up. Each employee was carefully screened again.
Meanwhile, on page 11, it was expected Australia's new 50 cent coin would be announced. It was to replace the silver coin which looked very similar to the 20 cent coin. Several shapes had been moulded and kept at the mint.
