Section 111., 1906, [ 4S ] Trans. R. S. C. 



IV. — On the Metallic Currency of the British Empire. 

 By Tho:mas Macfaelaxe. 



(Read May 23rd, 1906.) 



The erection of a new branch of the Eoyal Mint in Ottawa is an 

 event which suggests enquiry regarding the coins which are to bo 

 .'maniifactured there, the relations they should bear to the coinage of 

 other parts of the Empire and whether there is any possibility of intro- 

 ducing some degree of uniformity among the various systems of metallic 

 currency now in use in His Majesty's dominions. 



In Canada there circulate at present no gold coins peculiar to the 

 countr}'. These have yet to be designed and manufactured, and this 

 was understood to be one of the objects of the Ottawa Mint. The gold 

 of tlie Klondike was to be used there instead of finding its way to the 

 United States. Similarly, it was supposed that the silver ores of British 

 Columbia and Ontario would ultimately come to be treated inside of the 

 Dominion, and the resulting metal coined at Ottawa. More recently the 

 question has been raised as to whether some of the subsidiary coins 

 should not be made of pure nickel instead of silver or copper, and 

 whether Canada should not in this respect follow the example alread}- 

 given by France, Switzerland, Italy, Austria and Hungary. 



The Swiss Confederation was the first country in the world to in- 

 troduce pure nickel coinage. Their first issue of 20 centime piece? 

 (4 cents), bears the date of 1883. In 1890, Austria-Hungary followed 

 the example of Switzerland and put in circulation four pure nickel coins. 

 Italy was the next country to adopt nickel for coinage by a bill passed 

 on the 13th February, 1902, authorizing the Eoyal Mint to coin a 25 

 cenlesimi (5 cents) pure nickel piece, and the coins were struck otï in 

 1903. For France a bill was passed in 1903 authorizing the issue of teu 

 millions pure nickel 25 centime (5 cents) pieces which have since gone 

 into circulation. 



Moreover, it was announced in Paris in April. 1905, that 56 mil- 

 lions francs worth of copper coin would be retired from circulation ai 

 the end of the same year and replaced with nickel as the result of the 

 declaration by eminent medical experts that copper money is an active 

 agent for the spread of many diseases. It has also been stated that the 

 Government of India is now considering the advisability of using nickel 

 as a coinage metal. 



There are, however, special reasons why Canada should have a pure 

 ïiickel coinage. The province of Ontrio is the largest prodticer in the 



