THE EARL OF HARROWBYasked Her Majesty's Government:
Whether they will consider maintaining the old nomenclature of coins within the decimal system, such as one shilling for 5p, a florin for l0p, and a half-sovereign for 50p, in view of the fact that people would then be dealing with figures and proportions they understand, and would not be confined to the one word "penny".
§ LORD BESWICKThe new currency will have only two units, the pound sterling and the new penny, and the legal nomenclature of the decimal coins will be in terms of the new penny as provided in Schedule 1 to the Decimal Currency Act 1967. The use of intermediate terms in the legal nomenclature could be confusing and would tend to obscure the basic relationship between the major and minor units. But I am sure that this will not prevent people in their every day life from using other names, including the old familiar names, for the intermediate coins, if they find it convenient to do so.