§ MR. MUNDELLAstated that since giving Notice of the Question he had now to ask he had received a communication from one of the principal bankers in Sheffield, to the effect that after applying in vain to about 30 towns in the Kingdom, he found that silver could only be procured in places in the North of Ireland. He wished to ask Mr. Chancellor of the Exchequer, What steps he is taking to diminish the great inconvenience which is at present experienced from the scarcity of silver coinage?
§ THE CHANCELLOR OF THE EXCHEQUER, in reply, said, notwithstanding that they had in the course of the present year coined £600,000 worth of silver, which was double the average issue, there was still such a demand for silver that they had found it necessary to take further measures. The machinery at the Mint, he regretted to state, was not equal to the work which was at present demanded of it, and they were bound to go on coining gold when it was required, while they had also copper coinage on 250 hand. Under these circumstances, they had felt it their duty to enter into a contract with a private firm—Messrs. Heaton and Sons of Birmingham—to perform for them the preliminary process of the coinage of silver—namely, to provide blanks to be finished at the Mint. He hoped under those arrangements to commence about the middle of August next issuing £50,000 worth of silver per week, and to continue it as long as silver should be required. At the same time, he must warn hon. Gentlemen that they were laying the foundation of what would probably become before long a glut of silver, and they must not expect him to take measures for reducing it.