HC Deb 25 April 1950 vol 474 c775
47. Mr. Gerald Williams

asked the Chancellor of the Exchequer the number of shillings coined during 1949 as compared with previous years.

The Chancellor of the Exchequer (Sir Stafford Cripps)

Forty million five hundred thousand shillings were struck in 1949 compared with 91 million in 1948 and an average of 30 million in the three previous years.

Mr. Williams

Is the Chancellor aware that there is a shortage of shillings and that a great many people depend upon shillings for heating purposes and for getting baths, and for the convenience of the public could he see that more are coined in future?

Sir S. Cripps

There is, in fact, a surplus of shillings in the banks, and the question is whether employers will draw them out and put them in wage packets. If employers will take out more shillings and fewer two-shilling pieces and half-crowns, more shillings will be put into circulation. We are trying to encourage this to happen.

Sir H. Williams

Will the Chancellor give orders to the nationalised industries?

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