20 Transactions. 



So that every coin now in common use is represented in the new 

 system, but would require to be counted and booked in terms of the new 

 coinage. 



It follows as a useful corollary that when any one of these inter- 

 mediate groups is in quantity, then every ten of them pass without 

 calculation into the next value of coin — say, "4 taken ten times gives the 

 same figure in brons (4), and if taken 100 times gives the same number 

 in florins ; thus the figures merely want passing on to left one or more 

 columns in book-keeping; dividing being done with the same celerity. 



Advantages. 



I need not dilate on the immense advantages which this system would 

 confer on, say, banks, firms, companies, shops, factories, &c. ; also on 

 the preparation of statistics, tenders, contracts, taxes, wages, price-lists 

 which are continually changing; and on very small levies, such as '111, 

 or as far as we like to go, for this system allows of extension at either 

 end. 



As money would circulate more freely, it would tend to make business 

 more profitable and many commodities of life cheaper, consequently 

 making us all richer. 



Schools. 



To the advantages enumerated there is another of still greater 

 moment : I allude to the burden laid upon the children of our schools, 

 for it is little better than child-slavery to compel them to wade through 

 our unsystematic tables, and perform the feats they do, with the anti- 

 quated tools at their disposal. It is time we took off some of their useless 

 burdens. This system would result in their having time at their disposal 

 for more delightful studies in the higher branches of wisdom and know- 

 ledge. 



Tourists. 



We shall soon have foreigners on our list of tourists, and is it not 

 better to have a scientific currency ready for them, so that they may feel 

 more like ourselves? The system enumerated might also help to pave 

 the way for an international currency, which would be a boon that could 

 not be overestimated. 



It is clear that if the decimal system were adopted the British cur- 

 rency would be the best in the world, and if any foreign nation were 

 revising or decimalising its currency our method would be bound to be 

 adopted, either wholly or in part. 



Postage. 



It is just possible, if the details of the international penny postage 

 are not yet completed, that the proposed decimalisation of our coinage 

 might be taken into consideration, and the value of the stamp altered to 

 either the 4-tenny or the 5-tenny coin, in which case all calculations 

 therewith would be workable on the decimal system. 



Foreign nations do not appear to have as low a coinage as we have, 

 generally stopping, as far as I can ascertain, at or near 2M. The ques- 

 tion is, will tliey have this coin halved, thus making a coin close to the 

 o-tenny herein proposed, or will they not more likely divide it into tenths 

 and make a coin equal to four of them ? 



In any case, the 5-bron piece, equalling 1 shilling, can still purchase 

 twelve stamps, and a lesser number be paid for by the 5-tenny piece for- 



