A DECIMAL COINAGE FOR THE EMPIRE.
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is the penny and the halfpenny that stand in the way of making the change on the only possible basis, that of the sove- reign. The present penny is worth four mils and one-sixth, and the halfpenny two mils and one-twelfth. The poor would suffer if what they pay a penny for now were necessarily to cost them five mils, while every one of us would find his postage-stamp and his evening newspaper would cost him more, for we should only get two hundred."penny" articles for .21 instead of two hundred and forty as at present. There most, therefore, be a coin for each of the following values, one mil, two, three, four, and five mils, and these must be of such varying shapes and materials' that no one coin will be mistaken for another. The four-mil coin will soon come to be called by the people the "low penny," and the five-Mil coin the " high penny," and competition Will cause some trades- men and newspaper pioprietors to sell for the low penny while others require the high penny, and for the new halfpinny (two mile) instead of three mils. The State may well charge the low- penny (four mile) for a half-ounce letter and five mils for a one- ounce letter, while a postcard should cost three mils, including the material, and the other halfpenny postage should be two mils if possible. Stockbrokers might have the -honour of making us think decimally by quoting from January 1st next decimals of a pound instead of the present awkward eighths and sixteenths,—
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