The Sun.
London, England, 1847-11-27 00:00:00

DECIMAL COINAGE.

Dr. BOWRING, seeing the Right Hon. Gentleman
the Master of the Mint in his place, was desirous of put
ting a question to him relative to the decimal currency.
Ile wished to know whether any measure had seen
taken to introduce that currency, and whether it
would be soon in circulation ?

Mr.: SHEIL said, that in the course of a few

lays at coin of the value of 2s. would be issued from

the Mint. He was also bound further to state that
he had already submitted three specimens of coin to
his Hon. Friend.—(Laughter.)
LOSS OF THE STEPHEN WHITNEY.

Mr. lIUME wished to know whether any inquiry
had boen made by the Government into the accuracy
of the xeport that the loss of the above vessel had
been caused in consequence of the mismanagement
of the tights upon the Western Coast of Ireland ?
Mr. WARD stated, in answer to the llon. Mem-

ber, that the Comptroller of the Coast Guard had
made a communication with the Admiralty upon the
subject, but there was nothing contained in that com-
mu❑ication to induce the Government to believe that

he wrock had arisen in consequence of any misma-

nagemont of the lights.
EXTENSION OF TIME FOR COMPLETING
RAILWAYS.

The CHANCELLOR of the EXCHEQUER
rose, pursuant to notice, to move for leave to bring
in a Bill to extend the time for the purchase of the
land and completion of the works upon railways.
If the debate upon the first night of the session had
taken the course which he expected it would, it would
have been his duty then to have stated to the
house the reasons which had induced the Go-
vernment to pursue the course they had done.
and also the views they had formed of the causes of
the present commercial pressure. Among those
causes be should have included as one the great
absorption of capital by the demand of railway com-
panies. He did not mean to say that that
was the sole or principal cause of the
pressure which had recently existed. Ile did
not wish to ask any Hon. Member to give up the
opinions he had formed of other causes to which the
pressure was to be attributed. He thought that it
was a great mistake to attribute any great result to
one single cause, and all that he asked of Hon. Members
who might entertain opinions different to his own
was, that for this night they should only admit that
the absorption of capital by railways had been one of
the causes which had led to the production of the
present state of commercial embarrassment.—(Hear,
hear.) It would have been more satisfactory to
him had he been able to state to the
llouse the whole case at once, but as' it
was necessary that no time should be lost in
bringing. forward this measure, it was not a matter of
choice but of necessity that he should undertake this
portion of the case at once. One of the many points
which had frequently been pressed upon him was
the jpsonvenience which commerce had sustained
by the absorption of the floating capital of the
country.—(Hear, hear.) The floating capital of
a country was that which is employed in carrying on
the ordinary operations of agriculture and commerce,
and in their further development; in the erection of
buildings which were required from ono end of the
country to the other; and also in the construction of
permanent works, including docks and railways, which
ultimately contributed to the welfare and improvement
of the country. If the floating capital were too
rapidly converted into fixed capital, a pressure must
of necessity arise upon the commerce of the country.
Floating capital was employed in reproductive
works, whereas fixed capital sunk in perma-
nent works, however useful they might ulti-
mately be, would only produce liar a considerable
time an annual dividend or division of profits. The
case could be easily illustrated—suppose, for instance,
the case of a farmer conducting a large farm, and
employing a certain amount of capital for the
purposes of his farm, he might employ
the surplus of his capital in useful works,
such as draining and fencing, but if he ab-
stracted any portion of the capital necessary for car-
rying on the ordinary duties of the farm for tl e pur-
pose of those improvements, however valuable they
might ultimately prove to his farm, still the ordinary
operations of his farm would, no doubt, be crippled.
—(Hear.) The same illustration would apply with
equal force to the case of the manufacturer.
Now, what was applicable to an individual farmer or
commercial man was applicable to the whole com-
munity, and there could be no doubt that the whole
country had latterly been pushed for money in con-
sequence of the immense amount of railway specula-
tions that had been going on. Railway companies
had been borrowing money, the commercial world
had been borrowing money, and the result of all this
competition of borrowers was to make money more
difficult to be got at. So long as the demands of the
railway
companies were not heavy, the resources of
the country afforded ample means for agricultural
operations' fur the manufacturer, and for railway lia-
beities. After a time, however, they would find that
tic, demand for capital became excessive—exceeded
the last and, half-
'„vaie,k'hult>h:y
I.ddseetnhednatural consequence was that
when railroad eau° in the rate ofinterst ; for,
e.-,tr, namely, a rise •
largely, and the conTualC:l” w..e"
borrowing money
competition and an iocreasee• consequence was a
otwhathat he could
also required !Loney ret;l; Paq of the community
—(hear, hear.) He
dil
noint
ktbne rate of interest.
better state that part of the case
words of the Economist of last Satuntdbay using
iie.tr, and derisive laughter from Lord ‘4Yee'r,
tir.cic and the Protectionists.) Thethe
(Hear,
Noble 31.3:13
ni,g,
:, lit smile, but he could assure the 'louse that he
ii, d not seen a more correct or abler statement of the
effect of these transactions upon the capital of the
country than was contained in the article he was about
to read. The Beanmist said :—" The manner in
-
felt has been as follows. During the last
which the large abstraction of capital has been
par-
ticularly