So our new coins are to be not nickel but
cupro-nickel. That leaves
Canada, where nickel comes from, a little discontented. But every cloud has its cupro-nickel lining, and South Africa, where copper comes from, ought to be quite happy. Going off silver fortunately means something very different from going off gold, silver being legal tender only up to 4os. Cupro-nickel will be subject to the same restriction. The Conservative spokesman in the debate on the Coinage Bill on Tuesday did his duty as a good party man in deploring the passage of a coinage which, according to him, dated back to Offa of Mercia 5,200 years ago, but the average citizen will be little worried by the change even if he notices it. I doubt, in fact, whether he will. I have been looking at specimens of the new coins, and the difference between them and freshly-minted silver could be detected only by a semi-expert. A nickel shilling will buy all that a silver shilling can (about fivepence-worth) ; and that is what concerns you and me.
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