§ LORD GRANTCHESTERMy Lords, I beg leave to ask the second Question which stands in my name on the Order Paper.
The Question was as follows:
To ask Her Majesty's Government whether, in order to offer some form of saving in this country with an intrinsic value in a free market, they will make available through the banks a gold coin in exchange for something less than ten Treasury Bills of £1 each, and whether they will endeavour to find a European name for such a coin likely to interest all Members of the enlarged European Community, in which it might represent, say, 10 or 20 units of account.
EARL JELLICOEMy Lords, this interesting proposal is not one which Her Majesty's Government would wish to take up at this time, since it is important in present economic circumstances that domestic savings should be put to work productively. To encourage the purchase of gold coins would run counter to this need. So far as residents in other European Community countries are concerned, our information is that there would be little market for a new gold coin. In most of those countries, whose economic circumstances are different from ours, residents are free to buy bar gold. So far as they may also have an interest in gold coins as an investment they are likely to prefer well-known and established coins which are available and customarily used in this way.
§ LORD GRANTCHESTERMy Lords, while thanking the noble Earl for his helpful Answers, I should like to ask whether it is not necessary to establish confidence and a feeling that there is honesty in the currency, as well as the other matters to which he has drawn attention.
EARL JELLICOEYes, my Lords: and I feel that the best way of doing this is by tackling the problem of inflation at its root.