The Sun.
London, England, 1852-03-02 00:00:00

THE 1111 NT.

A report, just printed, to the Lords of the Treasury
from Sir J. Herschel, the Master of the Mint, puts the
public in possession of the entire proceedings which have
been taken for the reform of that establishment. In 1849
a report was presented to Parliament from four Commis-
sioners who had been appointed for the purposes of in-
quiry, and who stated an entire reorganization to be ab-
solutely essential. This was submitted to Mr. Sheil, at
that time Master of the Mint, and ho was called upon to
propose the plans necessary for carrying out its recom-
mendations. Mr. Sheil, who had himself been a mem-
ber of the Commission, agreed entirely with the sugges-
tions made, with the exception of three, to the effect that
none of the coinage work whatever should henceforth be
executed by contract, that the assayers and engravers
should still be allowed to undertake private work, and
that no alteration should take place in the assay depart-
ment. Upon Mr. Sheil being appointed Minister at
Florence Sir J. Herschel was named to succeed him as
Master of the Mint, and that gentleman having inti-
mated his complete concurrence in . the views of
the Commissioners as modified by Mr. Sheil, an
Order in Council was issued on the 7th of March,
1851, to carry them into effect. The Mint Board
was consequently abolished, the arbitrary contract
under which the Molter carried on his business was
terminated, and the privileges of the Mongers, who
claimed to be a corporation and to possess the sole right
of coinage, were disallowed. The whole of the ap-
pointments were then remodelled, and a set of
orders were promulgated, placing the establishment
in proper subordination to its responsible head.
The Metter strongly urged the necessity of retaining
the refinery, but in the face of the fact that the
Bank of England got their gold refined at a private
establishment at a rate far lower than was paid to him
for the same duty, although his refinery was esta-
blished at the public expense, this was felt to be
out of the question, and the premises have accordingly
been separated from the Mint and let to an
eminent
merchant, by whom they will again be shortly put In
operation. The lease was previously offered to the
Melter, but declined, and a pension was then granted
him of 1,2001. per annum. The fire Moneyers in claim-
ing compensation showed that their average profits
for the last ten years had beets about 2,6001. per
annum each, and in consideration of the sudden
termination of these receipts pensions were ac-
corded of 1,0001. per annum each to the two
elder members of the body, 9001. to tho third, 6001. to
the fourth, and 5001. to the flab. 150/. a year each
was also allowed to two apprentices who had. paid
1,000/. to the body, and had served five years without
remuneration on the expectation of becoming Moreyers
at the end of seven years. The Melter and also
the Moneyers were likewise compensated for such
portions as they claimed of the working plant
and utensils, the former receiving 1,0031, and
the latter altogether 3,093/. The pension to the
Assay-mtister was 7501. Before the final adjustment of
the new establishment, tenders were invited from
persons willing to perform by contract the work
hitherto done by the Moneyers, and three re-
plies wore received, two of • them being from leading
eneineering firms in London, and one from a respect-
able manufacturer. The terms of the first two
however, were too high, and the latter did not
furnish security to the amount required, namely,
30,000/. It was, therefore, resolved that the
execution of the coinage should be carried on by Go•
vernment officers permanently attached to the establish-
ment. As regards the engraving branch, it was resolved,
on the recent death of Mr. Wyon, that one skilful die-
sinker or engraver should be retained as resident
engraver on, a fixed salary, and without the right
of private work, while the best artists of the
day should be appointed modellers and engravers,
to be paid, not by salaries, but upon a fixed scale
for such work as may be required from them. The
chief of the new operations were brought into play on
the 21st of August last, and the results from that time
are stated to have been entirely satisfactory, and such
as fully to justify the recommendations of the Commis-
sioners end of Mr. Shoji. Not only is the expense dimi-
nished by the di,continuanee of the extraordinrry pro-
fits of the Moneyers and Melts r, but that of the fixed
establishment is also lessened, the whole department
being ut the same time brought under eff:Ttive con-
trol. The annual saving, with nn average amount of
coinage, calcul iced from previous years, will reach, it is
estimated, 11,C001., subject for a time to the dednc!ion of
the cornpensivion allowances. These allowances amount
to 8,0001. per annum, and the immediate saving is there-
fore 3,0004 In case the average gold coinage of future
years shall exceed. that of former years there will, more
about 3,0001. on every additional
omvielrliobnecaoinaing of

With regard to the question which has recently been
agitated by the refusal of the Bank to receive bullion ex•
cept in a condition that shall render refining unneces-
sary, Sir J. Herschel makes the following remarks,
which indicate that he himself is not free from doubt as
to the strict interpretation of the existing Act of Par-
liament:—

" A question connected with the conditions on which
gold was to be received at the Mint for coinage also re-
+tired careful cmsiderstion. Much doubt existed as to
what could or could not be deemed gold bullion fit for
coinage, and proper to be received. It appeared obvious
that it never could have teen intended that the Master
of the Mint should be required to convert into coin, at
the public expense, gold requiring to be refined before
it was fit for tha: purpose, and, acting under proper
advice in preparing the regulations which have re-
ceived your Lordships' sanction for the receipt of gold
bullion for coinage, I inserted the condition that the
gross weight of all the ingots delivered to be coined
without charge met not exceed their standard weight.
Jr at any time a legal diffiuulty should be experienced
in maintaining this condition, it will be necessary to
request the interference of Parliament; for, if a wider
interpretation of the Act of Parliament were admitted,
gold would very probably at the present time be sent to
the Mint to be coined, not because coin was wanted, but
that it might be refined at an expense to the public
greatly exceeding that for which the same quantity of
gold not requiting refining coald be coined."
The gentleman alluded to in Sir J. Herschel's report
as having taken the lease of the refining establishment
now separated from the Mint is, we understand, Sir An-
thony Rothschild.— Times,