The Sun.
London, England, 1854-06-21 00:00:00

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DEPUTATION TO THE CHA
EXCHEQUER. isZ. .1
A deputation of gentlemen, from an association lately
formed for the purpose of promoting a decirsal systent
of coinage, waited upon the Chancellor of the Exche•
quer yesterday, at his official residence, in Downing.
street, to urge upon her 'Majesty's Government the ore.
priety of adopting that system. The deputation con.
sisted of Lord Monteagle, Lord Stanley, M.P., the Hon. -
H. Liddell, M.P., the Hon. Arthur Kinnaird, M.P.,
Sir Joshua Walmsley, M.P., Sir G. Strickland, M.P.,
Sir Charles Paisley, Mr. Cobden, M.P., Sir George '
Goodman, M.P., Mr. Bright, M.P., Mr. Thicknesse,
M.P., Mr. Dundas, M.P., Mr. H. W. Wickham,
M.P., Mr.W. Patten, M.P., Mr. H. Brown, M.P.; Mr.
Oliveira, M.P., Mr. Wood, Mr. Feilden, M.P., 'Mr.
Greene, M.P., Mr. Brotherton, M.P., Mr. Thornely,
M.P., Mr. Gs Duncan, M.P., Mr. Dunlop, 14i.P.,151r.
Hastie, M.P., Mr. Ingham, M.P., Mr. Dunher, 1.P.,
Mr. M`Gregor, M.P., Mr. Whatman, M.P., Mr.
Greenall, M.P., Mr. Lindsay, M.P., Mr. Headlam,
M.P., Mr. Barnes, M.P., Dr. Michell,. M.P., Mr.
Bass, M.P., Mr. Jackson, M.P., Colonel Freestun,
M.P., Mr. Kershaw, M.P., Mr. Milner Gibson, M.P.,
the Lord Mayor of York, Mr. Drysdale, the Mayor of
Blackburn, Mr. Workman, Mr. J. Dillon, Mr. Bennoch,
Mr. Gregson, Mr. Morgan, Mr. Barton, Mr. Cheshire,
secretary to the Institute of Actuaries ; Mr. Hey.
wood, &c.
Mr. W. BROWN, M.P., in opening the business to the
Chancellor of the Exchequer, said the r'ght hen. gentle.
man was aware of what had taken place with referenise
to the onestem of decim il coinage up to the present
time. The committee of the House of Couruncus having
eninnaianLinyt
osueisz of c
lyi repoin
ortag
edeo,n the advisability of adopting a des
by divijing the pound sterling into
1000 part 4, a nu tither of members ofthe House of Commons
awl others had formed themselves into an association
called the Decimal Coinage Association, which held its
first meeting at the LOntitill Tavern a few days ago and
passed certain resolutions, one of which instructed them
to seek an interview' with the- Chancellor of the Excite.
quer, in ordeF that the deputation might have an oppor-
etewlkiesai.eaeuixu4attrii'eic',-"tf.P-4-44L
urging upon his attention the great impOrtance- t iey at.
tech to the proposed system of coinage.• If the deputa-
tion was important, it was nut !LEH so noiv that the right
hon. gentleman had been pleased to favour him with
communications, in which lie stated that, though he was
willing to lay before the Cabinet the subject of a decimal
coinage, he did not think the Government were pre-
pareicto go the full length of introducing that system,
nor could he believe that the country was prepared for
it. When Mr. Brown had introduced his resolutions
into the House cil Commons, he (the Chancellor_of the
Exchequer) had examined them, and suggested the omis-
sion of that portion of them which had reference to weight
and measures, on the ground that they were not neces-
sarily connected with tue question of the decimal curren-
cy. The hon. gentleman then proceeded to explain the
progress which had been made in furtherance of the
question, and went on to say that the committee of the
House of Commons having recommended that the pound
sterling should be the unit of account, the Decimal Asso-
ciation had been expressly framed on that basis, and.
was intended to carry into practical effect that resolu-
tion. The decimal system was in fact a labour-saving
machine, and they all knew that it was the introduction
of labour-saving machines that had made this country
what it was. With respect to the unit of account, there
was a difference of opinion. Mr. Thompson had read a
paper before the Institute of Actuaries in which he re-
commended that the penny should be the unit. The
right honourable gentleman must be aware that in an '
abstract question of this kind it was quite impossible to
raise popular enthusiasm, whatever be its practical im-
portance, and until they had some way of convincing the
people of the advantages of such a system, by showing
them some material substance in the shape of coins, it
was .quite impossible that any important step could
he taken in promoting the immediate establishment
of a decimal currency. At the same time he was
bound to say that as far as the petitions which had
been laid before the Legislature represented public
opinion, it was decidedly in favour of the change.
These petitions bad emanated from corporate bodies,
from mechanics' institutes, from private companies, and
municipal corporations. Some apprehension had been
,felt that great difficulty would arise from the change,
but he thought these apprehensions were exagge-
rated, because in Ireland the change from 13d. to 12d.
for the shilling had been effected without the least in-
convenience, and he believed without any dissatisfaction.
What they were anxious to see accomplished was an
issue of coins under the new system, by means of which
the public would be able to familiarise themselves with
the system and be prepared for its general adoption
when it should be put in force by the Government. As
to the basis of the new system, the committee of the
House of Commons was decidedly in favour of a pound
sterling as the unit of account, and he hoped therefore
that the Government would carry out the recommenda-
tion of a committee appointed by themselves. Mr.
Miller, cashier of the Bauk of England, would tell the
right hon. gentleman that the great majority of the
mercantile and commercial houses were deci !edly in
favour of the change. It was to be borne in mind that
there would be no alteration in the value of the money,
but the system proposed would merely involve the adop.
tion of a new and different scale ; and it would be im•
possible for the association to popularise the subject
without the assistance of the Government. At the same
time ho might say that all the evidence before the pub-
lic was decidedly in favour of the pound, and they hoped
that the right hon. gentleman would adopt it, and en-
able them at once to proceed by issuing certain small
coins, which would show the people the practical mean-
ing of decimals. In all the following countries the deci-
mal system of coinage was either in existence or was in
course of adoption :—Sweden, Holland, Belgium, Lom-
bardy, the Zollverein, Poland, Switzerland, France,
Rome, Sardinia, Greece, Madeira, Spain, Portugal,
South America, the United States of America, Canada,
Bermuda, China, Japan, and Russia.
The CHANCELLOR of the EXCHEQUER said the hon.
gentleman had not mentioned the Two ' Blether,.
where they had a decimal system of account, but a
system which was not decimal in the actual transactions
of life.

Mr. BROWN was understood to say that he was not
aware of this fact.

The CHANCELLOR of the EXCHEQUER said they
would find it most difficult to point to a clear case
of a country which had a uniformity of coiaage having
altered that coinage in order to adopt a decimal system.
Mr. BROWN said that, considering that the countries
he had mentioned adopted a decimal system, it did ap-
pear to him extraordinary that this, the most commercial
country in the world, should be almost the last to follow
that system. He trusted that the Government would
pass a resolution upon the subject in the course of the
present session, declaring their intention to adopt some
measure, and bring in a bill next session to carry out
that resolution.
The CHANCELLOR of the EXCHEQUER said that
with reference to the proposal to issue new coins, it
was necessary that the Government should previously
have made up its mind not only as to the propriety of
introducing a decimal system, but also that a pound
should be the unit of account. With regard to a question
of this kind he might ob'erve that the main use
of a deputation of this character was not to be ad-
dressed to him, hut was a sort of public demonstra-
tion, by which the attention of the country was to be
awakened to the subject. Although they had had
various commissions and committees upon the subject of
a decimal coinage, it bad not yet gone through anything
near that process of sifting amongst all classes of the
community interested in the question that would make
it safe for the Government to take any decisive steps.
There could not be a doubt that the decimal system of
account would be of immense advantage ; but if there
were a doubt, the high authority in favour of it would
be resistless ; but with regard to a decimal system of
coinage, they bad not yet received sufficient evidence—
he did not say abstract evidence—as to the sense and
feeling of the commercial classes of the country,- and
therefore it was very plain that that clans `who bad really
I paid great attention to the subject, the commercial popu-
lation, were certainly favourable to the
with a pound a
of a decimal coinage, general principles
the unit ; but
there were numerous masses of people who knew nothing
of decimals, and who carried out their business on a s
onwhich
of
would
some peculiar facilities, the omission
i
dif-
ferent system of account, with different divisions, offer-
ingis
be lost if they adopted a decimal system. It was re-
markable how the mixed decimal and duodecimal
system bad jived. It wag impossible not to be struck
with this, and also with the fist that it was bound up
with the habits of the people, the system being one of
dividing
nidiinghdirionplianlilyon into 20, ,
and duodecimally into 12.
Bu
thiswas a question on which the
mere judgment of the Government was of no im-
portance. There were some questions which were
carried on the recommendation of Government, and
others by the convictions of
the country, and some
by a mixture of both. Now, this was one on which
the feeling of the people must decide the whole
question. He frankly owned that he was by no means
convinced that they could get rid of the penny ; but he
made this admission to them, that nothing could be more
unimportant than the opinion of himself, or any man in
office, upon a subject of this nature. The question was
—What did the country think? Were they prepared for
this measure ? It was a matter on which they could not
take any decisive steps until it bad undergone that
sifting and scrutiny which were necessary to enable the
masses to well understand it. Patience was a bad text
for a sermon at any time, and was not a very popular
one ; but they must have patience until the matter was
further discussed. There were great differences of
e:sot ; and the views propounded by
opinion upon thesni j
of the press were by no means
the various portions
favour
unanimous invour of any particular system, so far as
the discussion bad gone. He hoped, therefore, that
engaged in this
gentlemen who were interesting
those g
• for it was an interesting and important ques-
question—
uld persevere in their laudable efforts to sift
iron—would
this matter, and he had no doubt that future discussion,
with the means happily afforded for such a purpose,
would bring them before long to some practical result ;
but the feeling of the Government was that they were
not ripe for decisive measures, and the opinion of Parlia-
ment ought not to be invoked until they were ripe. Sir
John Herschel, a favourable witness, had said that it
would take 20 years to carry out an object of this nature.
He was far from committing himself to such an opinion
as this, but he quite agreed in the statement of Mr.
Brown, that the system pi oposed would be a labour-
saving machine, and it was by labour-saving machines
that the power and greatness of this country had been
achieved.
t After a few words from Mr. Moore, the deputation
withdrew. -