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

DECIMAL COINAGE.

with r
egard to the question of decimal coinage, it ap-
eurr ',pat a motion is about to be made, with the con-
Ito ence of the Government, for a commi.tee of the
use of Commons to examine and report upon its ex-
recilencY• The following letter refers to the general
wrings 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
Inolley, weights, and measures ; and I tract that you will
not cease your advocacy of the decimal system until we are
Placed at least on a level with, in this particular, the more
scientific Chinese.

• eas you showed in your article
age
'March,Our adaptediscealdmnagira,blydb for a change to
the means of a decimal coinage
a of
completeth.eh
decimal system ; an
the public would be moyreeale inanytheethseyrsway
of decimal accounts and ruillaytiinsonttruhaentedin
that I can imagine. If
the decimal coins proposed, marked
.
'With their values, both in relation to the pound and
lation to the integer, were
once in their hands, and the old
coins below the sixpence takenout, all difficulties in the
he with-
Way of a change would vanish.soonhers. 8
nding issu f
~ It appears to me that t fid t
eeterrshould be t eo -
drawal of the halfcrowns, an a ,
llorins.
old six'
the- same value under
" The next step should be the calling in of the
psnces, and the issue of new cons of
the coin
Another name. The name of ` tester' would be as good an
one as any yet proposed, and is, moreover, a name
On one side the
alroadY has, and has borne, under its various changes of
value-, ever since the time of Henry VI
the
coin should bear in plain legible words, `Forty to
a good old
Pound ;' on the other, Twenty-five doits.' Doit is a name
which has been suggested for the integer, and
is a
pro.
gush be
it would be. 'Not worth a doit'
verb current enough among tui. This coin,
sixpence, exchangeable against six old pennies, could
evident,
of the va.l.ueeeorf.
tainly create no great confusion, as it would be
co__
upon the face of it, that there were 40 to the pound, ,1-;
sequently two to the shilling, and that it was worth
rhao.
dolts, the smallest of the new coins soon after to be int
duced. In six or twelve months after, when the doit miner
ont, its -value would 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.--,--10 to the florin.
5 20 „
CoPPer.{ 3 ~ ni ~
2 , 50
r:, 100 ''
"There seems at first an obj tion to the piece of 3-doits;
but it would be a most useful :coin, as it is not likely that
a single doit would circulate taor(?, or even so
present farthing, and with th ranch, as the
doit would hardly ever be e pieceasof 3-doits the single
that amount a 3-doit to pay a debt of
Piece be given, and a 2-doit
received in exchange.
"Two 2-doit pieces would PaY a debt of 4 dohs,and all
other combinations would be as easily made.
The expense of the change could not be great, for this
reason : Most of the copper in now • circulation was
in c
taade under a regulation as to the weight of the pieces,
different from that under which the Mint now coin
Pence.
" If a fair ordinary mixture of coper coin of all sorts be
taken, it will be found that the are heavier on tho aver-
age b
y 3 per cent. at least than hey
epence issued under the
Present regulations.
" -Under the present regulations,
kencfcopper (avoirdupois) is coined into 24 pence, so that 241
e , or 11. a pound weight 2 of
in e°liper, would weigh 10 pounds a ir
ntiß
Ts' he old
did weigh, loz.
Penny Piece with the rim round it weighs, or
aoirdupois, and these still form a large
Part of the co.p.Nr *curium,
It is not
likelY that there can be much more
.than e
Million Sterling of copper in circulation, considering the
great loss there must be of copper coins by the public, and
tblialnount coined since 1797
Prom 1797 to 1807, inclusive, the
, amount coined was
£818,447 6 9
' From 1807 there was no coinage of
enPPer until 1816, and from that time
to 1852 there was coined -- -

255,360 0 0

-------
21,073,807 6 0
th SuPPusing there were a million sterling in circulation,
're would he 10,300 000 lb , avoirdupois, of copper, or
,0001 b. more than would. be required to replace the
Million.
~,-4 811PPasing further, that the 300,0001 b. of copper in
'''''ess NV er e coined under the existing regulations as to
value, there would be a gain of 30,000/. to go against
the
elrieuse of the new ration.
Tile new coinsoPnelight be exchanged against the old
1311e,c, and fourpenny and threepenny pieces, in all towns,
IJ3' the stamp distributor or by the postmaster, in parcels
of 1/. each, and the bankers and shopkeepers would do the
rest.
1.• " Our present system of money, weights, and measures
~.. disgrace to us as a mercantile and civilised nation, and
the
that you will continue your advocacy of a change to
i'ac decimal system. Ido believe that no plan initiatory of
a change could be devised better than that of a decimal
oitag, which is ready to our hands.l am, Sir, your
Most obedient servant,
W. MILLER."

,AIL IVA Y TRAFFIC _RETURNS.

tjEnt GRIcAT NORTHERN RAILWAY.---Traffic return for
" Week ending Marel3: 27; 1853 (283 miles) 1113526 9 6
CollesPonding week last year (2414 miles) 11,317 13 1