TRANSACTIONS OF THE SECTIONS. 139 



coinage ; and out of the 1000 sums from one mil to one pound in the new system, 

 only 40, or 4 per cent., could be paid with our present coins. The only sums that 

 could possibly be paid with both the old and new money, woidd be Gd., Is., Is. 6(7., 

 and so on, by sixpences to a pound ; none of the intermediate sums, from ^d. to 

 5|f?., from (5jf/. to lljf/., could be paid with new coins; and the same difficulties 

 would occur in paying new coinage sums with old money, the present 6f/. being 

 25 new mils, and 24 present farthings. This difficulty was of great moment and 

 aiFected most of the Government departments, as, for instance, the Customs, 

 Excise, and Postage duties based on our copper coinage, that is, on the ^d., \d. 

 or \d. Thus the Post-office would have to alter its charge for letters, and if 

 (taking its gross receipts at £5,000,000) it decided to charge 4 mils instead of Id. 

 as now, it must consent to lose £200,000 yearly, the circidatiou remaining the 

 same ; or if it charged 5 mils, then this would be equivalent to an additional tax 

 on the people of £1,000,000 yearly. 



The same difficulties applied to bill stamps, receipt stamps, to railway, road, 

 canal, and other tolls, and many Acts of Parliament relating to railway, canal, 

 and other companies would have to be modified. It was shown that all the 

 manufacturer's price lists, both for paying their workmen, and for selling from their 

 books of engravings with printed prices attached, would have to be reprinted, that 

 litigation and strikes with the men would probably ensue, and that it would be 

 a veiy heavy tax on the manufactiu-ers of this countr3% It was urged that it was 

 unwise to import all these difficulties in addition to those that were inherent on 

 the mere change itself to a decimiil system. 



The author then pointed out that it was antagonistic to true decimalization to 

 begin at the highest coin, and to call that the unit. The imit, like our numeration, 

 should be the commencement of the system, and like it should begin with units, 

 go on to tens, then to hundreds, and on to thousands. 



The author then went on to say, "I now proceed to describe a system which I 

 think overcomes the objections and difficulties I have mentioned as affecting the 

 various schemes under consideration. 



" In the first place, by the plan I advocate" we get rid of vulgar fractions, \d., \d., 

 %d. The unit begins at the proper point, viz. the lowest necessary coin, the 

 farthing. We can retain in use during the transition period all the coins we now 

 have. We could use and write down either the present, or the proposed new 

 coinage, in pounds, shillings, and pence, as we do now, or decimally. No change 

 need be made in trading or in Government transactions. Those who chose could 

 keep their accoimts as now, even if thej' received the new coinage ; and those 

 who chose to keep their accounts decimaUy, could do so, and coidd still enter 

 decimally the old coinage amounts they received. 



" It begins at the farthing. It has been before suggested to begin at the farthing, 

 but the system proposed has some novelties. I would then boldly at once call 

 things by their right names, especially when these names will correctly denote the 

 relation each coin bears to the rest, and when these designations wiU greatly 

 facilitate the introduction of the decimal system. 



" I would make a coin of the value of 



1 Farthing, and caU it 1 imit. 



Trt T7 ii • I 10 units, or 1 decat, or 



10 Farthings, „ „ „ j a 10-unit piece. 



i 100 imits, or 1 centime or 

 100 Farthings, „ „ „ I cent, or a hundred-unit 



( piece. 



( 1000 units, or 1 mille or 

 1000 Farthings, „ ,, „ I mil, or a thousand-unit 



( piece." 



The following Table shows the relation the system bears to our present, and to 

 the American coinage, and gives all the coins that would be inti-oduced if the 

 plan were in frill operation. At first, however, the coins required would be 

 merely the 10, the 100, and 1000 unit- or farthing-pieces : — 



