A DECIMAL COINAGE F911 THE EMPIRE. (To THE EDITOR OF
THE " SPECTATOR.") Sta,—Your article of October 13th on " A Decimal Coinage for the Empire" has been read here with much interest, as it is practically the money we have. Port Said and Suez may be called the junction of the Old World, East and West. You can get any money there in the shops, more easily than Egyptian money. This great question of coinage is not merely commercial; it is an Imperial one. The tendency has hitherto been in the opposite direction in our African Colonies, and it came about in a curious way. In Nigeria some years ago when I was stationed there, the currency in our West African Colonies was British silver 3d., Gd., ls., and 2s. No gold was allowed, as prac- tically all gold coin was melted down for bracelets and so on. The Colonies bought specie at its sterling value from the Home Government, which thereby made a nice profit. The Colonial Governments of Sierra Leone, Gold Coast, and Nigeria decided that they would like to have this profit for themselves. Instead of arranging to get British silver from the Mint at its value as silver, they started a coinage of their own, which, besides having the practical disadvantage of requiring to be exchanged, was anti-Imperial.
The new proposals submitted in your article commend them- selves as sound in principle, and would have a far-reaching bene- ficial effect on the Empire in every way. In Egypt the pound consists of 100 Piastres Tarif, equal to 41 Os. Gd., or 97} P.T.— 41, or 975 millemes=41. At Port Said the Indian rupee is cur- rent at G} P.T., an Australian or British shilling at 48 millemes. In the Sudan, on the other hand, the British shilling has been fixed for currency prices at 50 millemes, or 5 P.T., as proposed in your article, which facilitates counting, as it ranks with the 5 P.T. piece. The simplicity of one coinage to all concerned, natives and traders alike, is a great practical advantage, not to speak of bookkeeping, when 410 Egyptian, 1,000 P.T., or 10,000 millemes, all mean the same thing. With one coinage for the Empire, along with a metrical system of weights and measures, nothing but good ran come. The difference between the sovereign pound of 20s. and the Egyptian pound of 20s. Gd. would require some consideration, but that is an item in a big question not beyond the wit of man to solve. It would certainly be one good result of the war if our silver were made current all over the Empire.—I am, Sir, &c.,
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