HL Deb 13 February 1964 vol 255 cc750-2WA
LORD CASEY

asked Her Majesty's Government:

What were the approximate values in to-day's currency of £100 sterling in stated years in the decades from 1830 up to 1900, and whether it can be assumed that such values would have been applicable to the currency of the Australian Colonies in those years.

THE CHANCELLOR OF THE DUCHY OF LANCASTER (VISCOUNT BLAKENHAM)

Official statistics of the type now used to estimate changes in the purchasing power of the pound were not collected in the nineteenth century. Some information is available as a result of private research, however, and this has been linked with official statistics for later periods to provide rough estimates of changes in purchasing power from 1850 onwards. Apart from the availability of the necessary information, comparisons over such long periods are inherently unreliable because of changes in the pattern of consumption and the emergence of completely new products. The figures given in the table below cannot therefore be regarded as giving more than a broad indication of the general direction of changes and their approximate magnitude.

Approximate value at 1963 prices of £100 sterling
1850 £495
1860 £445
1870 £440
1880 £465
1890 £545
1900 £560

Australian official statistics, like those for the United Kingdom, are not available in this field for the nineteenth century and it is not possible to say how closely the table above would be applicable to Australian currency.

House adjourned at seventeen minutes before nine o'clock