§ MR. BEAMISHsaid, he would beg to ask the right hon. Gentleman the Chancellor of the Exchequer the date of the Royal Commission to inquire into the expediency of adopting a Decimal Coinage, the number of sittings the Commissioners had had, what progress they had made, and when a Report might be expected from them?
THE CHANCELLOR OF THE EXCHEQUERsaid, that in answer to the first part of the question, he had to mention that the date of the Commission was October, 1855. The Commissioners had held eighteen sittings. With respect to the latter part of the question, and in order to answer it satisfactorily, namely, as to the progress made, it was desirable to explain shortly the course pursued by the Commission. The attention of the Commissioners was directed, in the first instance, to a careful examination of the Report of the Committee of the House of Commons, and of the evidence on which that Report was founded. It then proceeded to call before it as witnesses those 1389 persons who were understood, by their publications or otherwise, to be the most prominent and best-informed of the opponents of the recommendations of the Parliamentary Committee. At the same time the Commission applied itself to the preparation of a series of questions to be sent to foreign countries in which a decimal coinage had been introduced, with the view of eliciting information on several points, namely:—The previous state of the coinage, and the reasons which led to the introduction of a decimal coinage; the difficulties which had been found to attend the change; the extent to which the decimal coinage had been brought into practical use; and the result, how far satisfactory or otherwise. The last of the replies to these queries had but recently been received, and they were now under the consideration of the Commission. The Commission hoped very shortly to make a preliminary Report for the purpose of submitting to the Crown the information obtained respecting the state of the coinage in foreign countries, and the evidence of the witnesses already examined before the Commission, together with some other documents. By that means the Commission hoped that the attention of the public might be directed to many important considerations and difficulties connected with the subject, without a careful examination of which no safe and satisfactory judgment could be formed. Some important branches of the question still remained for investigation; consequently it was not possible at present to speak with confidence as to the probable period at which a final Report might be expected. The witnesses now about to be called were public officers connected with the army and navy, and who, from their experience, were competent to give an opinion respecting the application of the decimal coinage to those branches of the public service. The Master of the Mint would also be called upon to explain the time, labour, and cost of providing any new coins which the decimal system would require. It was also proposed to examine witnesses from the several revenue departments, and connected with the most important branches of manufacturing industry and commerce. Nor could these inquiries be completed without endeavouring as far as practicable to trace the effects which decimal coinage might produce on the ordinary operations of the market, on the expenditure of the working classes, and on the payment of the wages of labour.