188 REPORT— 1869. 



Bronze Coins : — 



6 cents > One type of coin 



4 cents with inscribed values. 



3 cents I It is like paper mo- 



2 cents j ney, into which in- 



1 CENT I trinsic value of mate- 

 's cent } rial does not enter. 



(For a time the penny, halfpenny, and farthing to be utilized.) 



7. Economies of a great Gold Coin. 



One kilogram of standard gold is now coined into 125 sovereigns*, and into 155 

 Napoleons. Under the ten-gram system it will be coined into 100 Victorias. ( 1) 

 The expense of coining 100 pieces is less than the expense of coining 125 or 155 

 pieces, (2) The new coin is easily weighed wherever metrical weights are in use, 

 as it is a round number of grams. (3) The surface of the large coins being 

 less for the equal weight the wear is less. (4) The size is convenient, and the 

 trouble of counting the coins is diminished. (5) The figures in accounts are fewer, 

 and the arithmetical labour is diminished. (6) Large sums are readily compre- 

 hended by the mind when expressed in large units. (7) The half-sovereign is 

 convenient in some cases ; but to make it the largest coin of account would, for some 

 of the reasons assigned above, be inexpedient. The inexpediency of a ten-franc 

 unit is still more striking. The ten-franc gold unit is on many grounds preferable 

 to the gold franc imit, as Mr. Graham pointed out ; but the coin in proportion to 

 value would cost three times as much as the decagram, it would last half as long, 

 and would weigh .3-2258 gramsf. The unit of value would not be a unit of weight, 

 it would be 3-2258 grams of the French standard gold. This is a fatal objection 

 to the ten-franc unit as the scientific basis of a permanent system of money. 



Silver coin contrasts in aU these respects unfavourably with gold coin wherever 

 large sums are in question. (1) To represent the same value as 100 ten-gram 

 pieces of gold weighing a kilogram, about 15^ kilograms of silver are required ; 

 more by 6 lbs. than a quarter of a hundredweight. To weigh it in scales is a 

 task. Silver is about 29 times as bulky as gold of the same value. Its coinage in 

 France is three or four times as costly. (2) It is less easily carried, kept, concealed 

 in dangerous places and times. (3) The silver worth 100 ten-gram gold pieces in 

 France is coined into 020 five-franc pieces, and in the same proportion the trouble 

 of coining, counting, and manipulating is multiplied. (4) The silver dollar is 

 subject to similar objections; and (5) inasmuch as many figures increase labour, 

 confuse thought, and increase chances of error, the 3100 francs corresponding to 100 

 ten-gram gold pieces are five times more objectionable than the dollar as the largest 

 coin of account. The franc at one time suited the small transactions of the French 

 peasantry, and the big five-franc piece satisfied their eye, but large gold units are 

 required now to measure the accumulating revenues and fortunes of the French 

 people. Of all the primary monetary units in use in Europe the franc is the least, 

 and on that account the worst. 



Silver coin should therefore among the civilized nations of Europe and America 

 be reduced to its place as a convenient representative unit, and in all the countries 

 which like England enjoy the single gold standard, the quantity of silver in silver 

 coin is to a certain extent arbitrary. 



But silver is still the standard in several countries ; in India, in China, in Germany, 

 in Holland, and in other nations with which England has very large commercial 

 transactions, it constitutes nearly the whole of the coined currency. Silver has 

 frequently to be transmitted to those countries ; the Bank of England has also 

 power to issue its notes against silver bullion ; it is therefore of importance to main- 

 tain our silver cuiTency as much as possible in harmony with the currency in which 

 silver is the standard wholly or partly. This condition is met by coining silver 



* Exactly 125-1846. 



t According to the Master of the Mint the cost of making a sovereign is now 3 farthings, 

 and it falls by wear below the legal weight in 18 years ; two half-sovereigns cost 6 farthings, 

 and fall below their legal weight in 10 years. — Eeturn to Order of House of Commxyns, 

 dated 28th June 1869. 



