The Northern Daily Times.
Liverpool, Merseyside, England, 1853-12-29 00:00:00

there could be no question would eventually become uni-
versal. He would just add a few remarks, from the report of
the committee, which really expressed everything which could
be desired in favour of the alteration, and the result they
had arrived at :

"In conclusion, your committee, having well weighed
the comparative merits of the existing system of coinage,
and the decimal system, and the obstacles which must neces-
sarily be met with in passing from one to the other, desire
to repeat their decided opinion of the superior advantages
of :the decimal system, and to record their conviction that
the obstacles referred to are not of such a nature as to
create any doubt of the expediency of introducing that
system, so soon as the requisite preparation shall have been
made for the purpose by means of cautious, but decisive
action on the part of the government.
" They believe that the necessary inconvenience attending
a transition state will be far more than compensated by the
great and permanent benefits which the change will confer
upon the public of this country, and of which the advan-
tages will be participated in to a still greater extent by future
generations."
This resolution did not commit the meeting to any particular
mode in which this great measure should be carried out;
but it merely asked them to confirm what the chamber of
commerce in the first instance, the house of commons in
the second, and the community at large, he hoped and
trusted did think necessary ; and then the mode in which it
should be carried out, they left to the parliament or country.
(Hear, hear.) He (Mr. Bouch) had that morning received,
and with that extract he would conclude what he had to
to say, from one of the most active actuaries in town, a man
at the head of a large public establishment here, and who
came to them from :London, who was himself a mathemati-
cian of no mean celebrity ; in a letter hastily addressed to
him (Mr. Bouch) that morning he used these words :
" I do trust that Liverpool merchants will take the oppor-
tunity, without pausing to weigh the comparative values of
the various plans proposed, unanimously to signify their
wish for a decimal coinage. Professor de Morgan truly
states that they diminish labor from one-half to four-fifths,
or, indeed, he might have said more. Those computations,
with which I am professionally more acquainted, would be
almost impracticable if we did not first reduce the present
coinage into decimals. Besides this, lam strongly im-
pressed with the conviction that decimal arithmetic is so
admirably simple, that its knowledge :is attainable by the
most ordinary intellect. It may almost be said of it
that it pictorially represents the principle of computation
to the eye of the pupil." (Hear, hear.) He thought that
remark very much to the purpose. (Hear hear.) Before sitting
down he would again allude to the merits of their worthy
county member, not only on this, but on every public
measure that had been his (Mr. Bouch's) good fortune to be
engaged with him in, his services had been untiring, most
strenuous, and had never failed to carry those measures
through to a final result. He hoped he should be equally
successful on this occasion. (Cheers.)
Mr. BROWN wished to say one word in explanation. He
had stated that a great deal of labour would be saved ; it
would be a labour-saving machine, of which they quite
understood the value in Lancashire, if they adopted the
decimal system of accounts and calculations. But the effect
would be this . it would enable us better to meet our com-
petitors in the markets of the world ; it would enable us to
cheapen our fabrics, and so far from throwing people out of
work here, it would increase the demand for hands, in order
to produce the fabrics for foreign export ; and every labor-
saving machine was of the greatest national importance, as
they had ample proof of in Lancashire. (Applause.) He was
glad to see that the press generally had taken the same view
of the subject as the resolution which he proposed took.
(Applause.) He reminded the gentlemen present that all
parliamer tary documents could be ordered through their
booksellers from Hansard's, where they were always on
sale.

The resolution was then unanimously agreed to.
Mr. TROY(As B. HORSFALL, M.P., came forward to pro-
pose the second resolution, and was ondly cheered. He said
he had great pleasure in briefly moving the second resolu-
tion ; that resolution, recognising the principle which was
proposed in the first resolution, and which had been
unanimously assented to by the meeting, pro-
ceeded to show the benefits which would accrue
from the adoption of the decimal system to every class of
the community,—to the scholar and school-master, the
merchant and clerk,-the contractor, engineer, and man of
science, the humblest individual as well as the wealthiest in
the community, and as if it did not embrace everybody it
should all other parties. (Hear, hear, and a laugh.) Now
he quite concurred with this resolution ; it would confer
a very general benefit, he might say an universal benefit.
(Hear, hell%) And he (Mr. Horsfall) was very much sun,
prised, alluding to the object of the meeting, to hear the
other day an objection, which he believed the mayor heard
also, that this meeting was somewhat inopportune ; that
questions of much greater importance than that of decimal
coinage were now agitating the country—(hear, hear) ; that
the necessities of her Majesty's government, and the anxie-
ties of the country were all engaged in the question of peace
or war ; and that it would be somewhat out of place for the
inhabitants of Liverpool to meet on the subject of decimal
coinage instead of meeting on the subject of peace or war.
(Hear, hear.) Now he (Mr. Horsfall) thought there was a
little difference between meeting on those two questious.
(Hear, hear.) They met to-day with the view of informing
her Majesty's government what the view of the people of
Liverpool was on the question of decimal coinage, to
enable them to legislate on it ; but he apprehended
if they were to have a meeting on the question of
peace or war, they must wait until they know whether
they were at peace or war ; they must wait until parliament
met, and until they knew what her Majesty's government
had done, and what they intended to do, and then it might
be necessary in consequence to meet to know whether they
were to have peace or war, or what they were to do. (Hear,
hear.) But they were not to let an important question like
this, and he desired not to diminish its importance, to stand
in the way of every other improvement. (Applause.) If
that had been the case they might have been doing nothing
for the last six months. (Hear, hear.) He (Mr. Horsfall)
thought this a very important question, and one upon which
the inhabitants of the town ought to inform the government
what their views were, and that it was important they should
have the decimal system estatablished. (Hear, hear.) They
might not all agree as to the exact details, as to the exact
method in which the system should be carried out. They
had had many very excellent plat-is proposed to them. The
first was a plan proposed by the chamber of commerce
more thanitwelve moutheago, and to:which reference had been
already made ; and he Would just like to add the scheme
proposed by the chamber of commerce in a letter addressed
to the president of the board of trade, before the appoint-
ment
elht
amwasbera,
anledttperropsiogsendedthbayt
thMerc.oiHnaogrenbshyo,
of the committee of the House o Commons took place.
upidrebseidaensotveorfeitgline
equal to a thousand cents, half a sovereign equal to five
hundred cents, a crown equal to two hundred and fifty
cents, a half-crown equal to one hundred and twenty-five
cents, a florin equal to one hundred cents, a shilling fifty cents,
a sixpence twenty-five, and four' pence, if maintained, six-
teen and two-third cents, threepence twelve and a half cents,
and one penny five cents. In that there were many of the
views adopted by the the committee, but Mr. Brown had
stated, perhaps more clearly than he (Mr. Horsfall) could
state them, what the views of the committee of the house
of commons were. He would just read an extract from
their own report :

"As respects the coins, it will be necessary to withdraw
from circulation certain of the coins at present in use, and
to substitute in their place certain other coins having refe-
rence to the decimal scale, before the decimal system can be
considered as fully developed. Your committee contem-
plate the retention under any circumstances, of the present
sovereign (1000 mils,) half-sovereigns (500 mils,) florin
(100 mils,) and shilling (50 mils, or 5 cents.) The present
sixpence, under the denomination of 25 mils, might be re-
tained, and the crown, or piece of 250 mils, of which few
are in circulation, need not be withdrawn. On the other
hand, it will be desirable to withdraw the half-crown, and
the threepenny and fourpenny pieces, which are inconsistent
with the decimal scale.

" With regard to the coins not in actual existence at pre-
sent, but which it will be necessary eventually to introduce,
your committee refer to the evidence taken by them on the
subject. It appears to them that copper coins of 1,2, and
5 mils, and silver coins of 20 and 10 mils will be required,
to which should be added such others as experience may
show to be desirable. It is important, however, to bear in
Fund, that the smaller the number of the coins with which
it is practicable to effect purchases and exchanges, the
better.

" Your committee feel that a certain period of preparation,
destined to facilitate the transition from the present to the
new system, is indispensable. During such a transition pe-
riod, various measures should be adopted with a view to pre-
pare the way for ulterior changes, and to create in the public
mind a desire for their completion. Several of the proceed-
ings on the part of her majesty's mint, which would ulti-
mately become necessary, might be adopted at the present
time without introducing any elements inconsistent with the
existing system of coinage and accounts. Your committee
believe that no unnecessary delay should prevent the full in
troduction, of the decimal system, and they recommend that
the necessary preparatory measures should be entered on at
the royal mint as soon as possible."
This was much in unison with a part of the report of
the chamber of commerce ; but there were other, and what
appeared to him important, suggestions indeed, which had
been thrown out in a very able pamphlet by Mr. Theodore
Rathbone, which some of the gentlemen present might
have seen. Mr. Rathbone was asked by some of his
friends to put his statement in as simple a form as he could,
and according to his view, which was to retain—it adopted
10d. instead of ls.— the penny and so forth. He
said, there is literally nothing proposed or required, but
to exchange shillings (or twelve pences) for ten pences, in
our accounts, and to stamp in every circulating coin, what-
ever its value, the figure or figures giving that value in ten
pence and pence. The legislature have but to render
pounds, ten pence, and pence,—or (at option) simply ten
pence and pence, the only legal forms of account, and to
provide for stamping the existing coinage. That in his
(Mr. Horsfall's) opinion, was a very valuable suggestion,
and he merely laid it before the meeting, in order that they
might consider the different views which had been proposed
to them, that they might ultimately arrive at the best.
(Hear, hear.) Now, in addition to that, there was one by