§ I have to report further progress in the restoration of the gold coinage. On January 1, 1896, light gold coins of the value of £29,100,000 had been exchanged. During I he year 1896 £2,400,000 more were withdrawn at a cost of £33,000. On January 1, 1897, 1262 the amount—it is estimated—of light gold in circulation was only 8 per cent, of the total coinage, and of that light gold one-fifth of the light sovereigns and 30 per cent, of the light half-sovereigns were so nearly legal in weight that neither the eye nor any balance in ordinary use could possibly detect that they were wrong. So far as the metropolis and the principal centres of industry are concerned, it may be said that the restoration of our gold coinage has been completed, though, of course, we still have to provide for perpetual wear and tear. But a good deal still remains to be done in the country districts, and especially in the more remote parts of the United Kingdom. I have been in communication during the past year with the authorities of the Bank of England and the Country Bankers' Association, and I have arranged that greater facilities should be given for the reception by the branches of the Bank of England of small parcels of light gold and the payment of the cost of conveyance from the provinces for a limited period, and I have every reason to anticipate that by the end of six months from this time a good deal will have been done towards completing the restoration of the coinage. The Bank of England may then exercise more stringently than now the discretion granted to it by the Act of 1891. £32,000 provided by that Act for the restoration of coinage is still unexpended, besides the amount authorised to be similarly applied by the Act of 1893. The operations of the Mint with regard to the coinage have been very extensive during the past year. I think as much as six millions sterling in value of different coins has been struck at the Mint in the year which has just closed, as against five millions in the year preceding, and the great increase has been in silver and copper, especially in copper. Twenty-five million pieces of silver coin, and thirty-two million pieces of copper coin have been struck; 245 tons of copper have been used in that coinage, and the copper coinage of the year is more than three times as much in value as that of the preceding year. I inquired the reason. Of course, it is partly due, I hope, to the increased prosperity in trade and generally amongst the working classes. But it was curious 1263 to learn that in the view of the authorities of the Mint, not a little of the increased demand for copper was due to the increased number of articles, whether useful or otherwise the Committee may decide, which may be obtained by the simple process of putting a, penny in the slot. [Laughter.]