The Sun.
London, England, 1853-04-07 00:00:00

DECIMAL COINAGE.

that
..,-
regard to the question of decimal coinage, it ap-
pearseur t a motion is about to be made, with ie con-
Lune
lion eof the Government, for a committee of the
8e of Commons to examine and report upon its ex-
techencY• The following letter refers to the general
earings of the subject :

" London, March 31, 1853.
rejoice to see that you have begun to use your
Powerful pen in the cause of the reform of our system of
410ney, weights, and measures • and I trust that you will
not cease your advocacy of the ilecimal system until we are
Placed at least on a level with, in this particular, the more
bcientific Chinese.

your article
ttieele
sof
complete
p3lOetteh
March, is , iscoacialmage, a
admirably Youshowed in
adaptedfora h
decimal system ; and by the
means
•
the public would be more easilyinstruactaeddeianimtahle coinage
system
of decimal accounts and calculation way
than in any other
that I can imagine. If the decimal coins
pound andnsproposed, marked
in
with their values, both in relation to h
re-
lation to the integer, were once in their
alleir difficultieshands,and
in
the
theold
coins below the sixpence taken u
"It appears to me that the
drawal of the halfcrowns, and a corresponding
thiseswueithef-
florins.
" The next step should be the calling in ofe tvhael'uoeldunsdixer-
Ponces, and the issue or new coins of.thesam another name. The name of ' tester'
one as any yet proposed, v.rd is, moirve
varier chat nges of
already has, and has borne, under its
would
r a nbaase ghaeadcoainn
value, ever since the time of Henry VIII. On one side the
coin should bear in plain legible words, ' Forty to
Pound ;' on the other, TwenLy-five doits.' Doitaiseea ndaemhei
*which. has been suggested for the integer, and
.t good a
pro-
English name it would be. ' Not worth a doi '
verb current enough among us. This coin, of the is
value of
al-Tpenee, exchangeable against six old pennies, could. cer-
tainly create no great confusion, as it would be evideennt,.
upon the face of it, that there were 40 to the pound,
_c _.
Becluently two to the shilling, and that it was worth 25
dolts the smallest of the new coins soon after to be intro-
duced. In six or t we've months after, when the doit cr,nae
out, its value won', be already well known. The tester
would therefore be a common measure for the value both
of the old and the new coins, 6 pennies, or 25 doits.
" There should, I conceive, be the' following scale of
Coins below the ' tester,' having relation to the florin—
Silver. 10 doits 810 to the florin.
Copper. 3 331 20 „
",
{
2 ' 50 „
1 ',), 100 "
" There seems at first an ob'ection to tlepiece of 3-doits;
but it would be a most usef 13
coin
single dolt would circulate-line:4'; erasevitenissneomt
ulickhe,lyasththaet
present farthing, and with the piece of doits the single
do it would hardly e e 1)
as to pay a debt of
that amount a 3-doi't rpieecerewlniourledebe given, and a 2-dolt
received in exchange.
" Two 2-dolt pieces woulbeast' a debt of
other combinations would easa 4 dolts, and all
y made.
"The expense of the change could not be great, for this
reason : most of the copper coin now in diation was
rase under a regulation as to the weight of the pieces,
ciitferent from that under which the Mint t now coin
Pence.
" If affair or
takemixture of copper coin of all sorts be
'I, i will be found that they are heavier on the aver-
. age by 3 per cent. at least than the pence issued under the
present regulations. Under the present regulations, a pound weight of
copper (avoirdupois) is coined into 24 pence, so thaatvolo_
nce, or 11. in copper, would weigh 10 pounds
;dB.
' weepd penny piece with the rim round it weighs, or
did , loz. avoirdupois, and these still form wiargo
Part of the copper circulation.
"It is not likely that there can be much more than _
a
ninon sterling of
ncopper in circulation, considering the
_
eat lose there
must be of copper coins by'
the public, and
e no
at
unt coined since 1797
. ,
" m 1797
ined to 1807, inclusive, the
was
' amount co From 1807 there was no coinage of £818,447 6 9
tocopper until 1816, and from that time
185'2 there was coined

255,360 0 0

21,073,807 6 0
there would
%Posing there were a million sterling infcirculatrioonr,
be 10,360,091 b , avoirdupois, o coppe ,
,0001 b. more than would. be required to replace the
SuPposing further, that the 300,0001 b. of copper in
-zee% were coined under the existing regulations as to
value, there would be a gain of 30,0001. to go against the
expense of the new operation.
ruce" The new coins might bo exchanged against the old
, and fotuTenny and threepenny pieces in all towns,
y the stamp distributor, or by the postmaAer, in parcels
of 1/. each,
rest. and the bankers and shopkeepers would do the
13der present system of money, weights, and measures
,4 ClagraCe to us as a mercantile and civilised nation, and
ittrnst that you will continue your advocacy of a change to
'lto decimal system. Ido believe that no plan initiatory of
a Change could be devised better than that of a decimal
menage_,cc' which is ready to our hands.—l am, Sir, your
obedient servant, W. MILLER."