Added correct version test and changed whatsnew

Author: Nicholas Ver Halen

doc/source/whatsnew/v0.19.1.txt

@@ -59,4 +59,3 @@ Bug Fixes
 - Bug in ``df.groupby`` where ``TypeError`` raised when ``pd.Grouper(key=...)`` is passed in a list (:issue:`14334`)
 - Bug in ``pd.pivot_table`` may raise ``TypeError`` or ``ValueError`` when ``index`` or ``columns``
   is not scalar and ``values`` is not specified (:issue:`14380`)
-- Bug in ``pd.to_numeric`` where a 0 was not unsigned on a downcast = 'unsigned' argument (:issue:`14401`)

doc/source/whatsnew/v0.19.2.txt

@@ -25,3 +25,4 @@ Bug Fixes
 
 - compat with ``dateutil==2.6.0`` for testing (:issue:`14621`)
 - allow ``nanoseconds`` in ``Timestamp.replace`` kwargs (:issue:`14621`)
+- Bug in ``pd.to_numeric`` where a 0 was not unsigned on a downcast = 'unsigned' argument (:issue:`14401`)

pandas/tools/tests/test_util.py

@@ -2,14 +2,13 @@
 import locale
 import codecs
 import nose
-from distutils.version import LooseVersion
 
 import numpy as np
 from numpy import (iinfo, int8, int16, int32, int64,
                    uint8, uint16, uint32,)
 
 import pandas as pd
-from pandas import date_range, Index
+from pandas import (date_range, Index, _np_version_under1p9)
 import pandas.util.testing as tm
 from pandas.tools.util import cartesian_product, to_numeric
 
@@ -407,8 +406,8 @@ def test_downcast(self):
     def test_downcast_limits(self):
         # Test the limits of each downcast. Bug: #14401.
         # Check to make sure numpy is new enough to run this test.
-        if LooseVersion(np.__version__) <= LooseVersion('1.8.2'):
-            return
+        if _np_version_under1p9:
+            raise nose.SkipTest("Numpy version is under 1.9")
 
         i = 'integer'
         u = 'unsigned'