A DECIMAL COINAGE FOR THE EMPIRE.
[To THE EDITOR Or THE SPECTATOR."3
SIR,—Therearetwochief reasons for introducing a decimal coinage: (1) Provided that decimal weights and measures, and especially the metric system, are also introduced, it would facilitate calcula- tion°. (2) Provided that the system introduced agrees with that of the majority of traders in foreign countries, it would greedy encourage trade with foreign countries. The second of these reasons appears to me to be vastly more important than the first. What we need is a system which foreign buyers and sellers will understand. The ideal system would be one adopted by the whole world. The system proposed by the Institute of Bankers (see Spectator of October 13th) has the minimum of advantage from the foreigner's point of view. It is insular in its outlook. Why sot adopt either francs or dollars and be immediately understood by millions of people abroad ? There is nothing sacrosanct about the pound sterling. Other nations will not adopt our system. Shall we persist in blind obstinacy in refusing to adopt their system and thus throwing away opportunities of doing business with them ?—.I em, Sir, Ac., BERNARD HOBSON. ThOrRi011, Hallamgate Road, Sheffield.
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