§ Mr. Lubbockasked the Chancellor of the Exchequer if he will give the names of the jurors appointed to give the verdict at the trial of the Pyx in February, 1968; and how these jurors were selected.
§ Mr. Roy JenkinsThe names are as follows. The Jurors were selected by the Prime Warden and Wardens of the Goldsmiths' Company from freemen of the company in accordance with a precept issued by the Lords Commissioners under the Trial of the Pyx Order in Council 1871 as amended by the Trial of the Pyx74W Order of Council 1901 and the Trial of the Pyx Order 1947.
Brig.-General Sir Harold Brewer Hartley,
G.C.V.O., C.H., C.B.E., M.C., F.R.S.
Mr. Herbert Martin Parsons, M.B.E.
Dr. Walter Godfrey Allen.
Mr. Charles Stanley Padgett.
Sir Owen Haddon Wansbrough-Jones, K.B.E.,
C.B.
Mr. John White Isaac.
Mr. Francis Ivan Tarratt.
Mr. Norman Alfred Vanderpump.
Professor Robert Yorke Goodden, C.B.E.
Mr. John Richard Abbey.
Professor George Wesley Austin, O.B.E.
Sir John Charrington.
Sir John Herbert McCutcheon Craig,
K.C.V.O., C.B.
Mr. Frank Herbert Dowden.
Mr. Frederic Stuart Estcourt Fawkes.
Mr. John Stuart Forbes.
Mr. John Forrest Hayward.
Mr. Frank Buller Howard Howard-White, M.C.
Mr. Arthur Philip Jenkins.
Lt.-Colonel Ririd Myddelton, M.V.O.
Mr. Charles Chichele Oman.
Dr. John Henry Pyle Pafford.
Mr. Bryan Hamersley Woods, M.B.E.
Mr. David Barnes Dalladay.
§ Mr. Lubbockasked the Chancellor of the Exchequer what sampling inspection procedures are applied to coins produced at the Royal Mint; and if he will place a copy of the instructions given to inspectors at the Royal Mint in the Library of the House of Commons.
§ Mr. Roy JenkinsTests of composition and of weight and dimensional accuracy are applied at all stages of coin production in accordance with normal engineering inspection procedures and are modified and improved from time to time. There are no comprehensive inspection instructions as such, but written instructions on particular aspects are issued as the occasion requires.
§ Mr. Lubbockasked the Chancellor of the Exchequer on how many occasions since 1870 the verdict of the jury at the Trial of the Pyx shows that any of the coins inspected fell outside the prescribed limits of weight or standard fineness.
§ Mr. Roy JenkinsOnce, in 1926.
§ Mr. Lubbockasked the Chancellor of the Exchequer what was the cost to public funds of the Trial of the Pyx held on 22nd February, 1968.
§ Mr. Roy JenkinsThe cost to the Royal Mint of assembling the samples 75W and of attendance at the Trial etc. is of the order of £700 per annum. No charge is made by the Goldsmiths' Company for their part in the Trial.
§ Mr. Lubbockasked the Chancellor of the Exchequer what purpose is served by the Trial of the Pyx, which is not covered by inspection procedures at the Royal Mint.
§ Mr. Floy JenkinsIt provides an independent outside check, by the expert members and staff of the Goldsmiths' Company, on the accuracy of the work of the Royal Mint.
§ Mr. Lubbockasked the Chancellor of the Exchequer if he will seek to amend the Coinage Act, 1870, so as to abolish the Trial of the Pyx.
§ Mr. Roy JenkinsI see no reason to abolish an arrangement which provides an independent outside check on the Royal Mint's standards at small cost to the Exchequer.