STRANGE PREJUDICE

Te Awamutu Courier, Volume 53, Issue 3828, 2 November 1936, Page 3

STRANGE PREJUDICE

the threepenny bit not POPULAR IN BRITAIN. It has been reported from London that the authorities of the Royal Mint have submitted to the British Treasury a proposal for the minting of a new threepenny piece. The new coin will be made of a metal not previously used in British coinage; it will be slightly larger than the silver sixpence, and will have a. different colour and edge. The object of minting this new coin is to overcome the prejudice which exists in England against the silver threepence, on account of its small size, and thus avoid the use of much copper coin. In Australia (says a writer in the Melbourne Age) there is no prejudice against the nimjble threepenny bit. and it is in daily circulation among all classes. But a person might spend months in England without ever being given a threepenny piece in change, and when one is tendered, it is usually accompanied with an apology, because no one likes to accept such a small coin as change. Anyone in England who gets a threepenny bit given in change usually makes haste to get. rid of it at the first opportunity. Some years ago, the London Times drew attention in a half-column leading article to a newsboy who had deserved well of his country by withdrawing from circulation 320 threepenny pieces he had received in the course of business, and giving them to the London Hospital. “If he had saved and given that sum of £4 in other coin, he would have been a public benefactor,” said the Times, “but the man or boy who holds 320 threepenny bits out of circulation surely deserves a dinner of honour at Guildhall, and a statue by the Royal Exchange. Experts at; the Board of Trade of the Ministry of Labour, might perhaps be able to calculate how much time he has saved, on an average, to the business of his country in London alone, during every day. When a lady is seen holding up a long line of people at the underground booking office, or delaying the omnibus conductor on his hurried round, and with him the whole omnibus, it is always a threepenny bit for which she is fumbling with gloved fingers in a complicated hand bag. It might be possible again to work opt how greatly the national savings have been increased by his patriotic action, for there is no man but will become a penny the poorer by buying matches or a newspaper that he does not need, merely because he has a threepenny bit to get rid of. The churches and their good works, especially in those sacred edifices where the discreet offertory bag has superseded the telltale plate, are unquestionably the richer through this admirable young newsboy. He has conferred upon us all, in fact, a benefit wholly incalculable. He has, as those who use taxi-cabs will be specially ready to agree, sweetened the national temper, and purified the national morality by removing for a time 320 occasions of annoyance and strong language. No one loves the threepenny bit. Not even when it is called a ‘thruppenny’ by people old enough to remember its fellow pest, the fourpenny bit or groat, can it attain amenity or dignity. Better a string of Chinese cash, of which at normal rates, it would take one hundred and odd to make three pence, than this foolish little piece of fishing bait. But the penny, the generous English penny, is always welcome. There is nothing trivial, sly or fractious about the penny. Sturdy, simple, brown-coated, he is a trusty servant, easily summoned when wanted, and ready to do an infinite number of small tasks without making fuss or trouble.”

SILVER COINS. The threepenny piece, which originally was only one of the Maundy coins, was first issued in large numbers for general circulation in Great Britain in 1845. Previously the lowest silver coin in use was the groat, bitt in a little more than ten years the threepenny bit drove the groat out of general circulation. The groat was last struck at the Royal Mint in 1856, but it was not withdrawn from circulation until the close of the reign of Queen Victoria. The groat and'the threepence were very similar in size and apearance,. the chief difference being that the edge of the groat was ribbed, and that of the threepence was plain. According to the Royal Mint, the normal life of a threepeny bit before it becomes so thin and worn that it has to be withdrawn from circulation is 32 years. A sixpence, though larger and thicker, leads a more • active life, and gets worn out in 28 years. The shilling has an average life of 41 years; a florin remains in circulation for an average of 45 years, and a half-crown for 65 years. For a great many years before the war Great Britain’s silver coinage contained 37-40th of fine silver and 3-40th alloy. For every ounce of fine silver used by the Bint it goi 5s 6d when turned into coins. As the market price of silver had been under 2s 6d per oz for many years, the Mint made a handsome profit of over £1,000,000 a year out of the silver coinage. But the war, which inflated the currencies of the chief belligerents, increased the demands for silver for coinage purposes, and thereby increased the market price <?f

the metal. The world’s production of silver rapidly decreased as the result of the war, and this also added to the market price. In February, 1920, silver reached <he record price of 7s sid per oz. The Royal Mint in continuing to issue silver coins on a basis of 5s 6d per oz was losing heavily. The amount of silver in each coin was worth more than the coin itself. An act was therefore passed through the British Parliament authorising the Mint to reduce the amount of silver in the coinage to 50 per cent, instead of 92.5 per cent., as formerly, and the old silver coinage was called in. The florin, which in Australia has driven the half-crown out of circulation, has not had that effect in Great Britain, though when first minted it was expected to do so. And in order to give it a good chance of replacing the half-crown the issue of the latter coin was suspended by the Royal Mint for tweilve years (1851-1862) after the florin was introduced. But in response to repeated demands for the restoration of the half-crown, it was again struck by the Royal Mint, and has continued in circulation ewer since. •

The florin was introduced into the coinage of Great Britain in 1849, in response to an agitation for a decimal coinage. But the idea of increasing the value of the penny to one-tenth of a shilling could not be entertained, because- such a change would have aroused intense opposition, as one of the most notable effects would have been that' only ten articles priced at a penny each would have been procurable for a shilling instead of twelve. The new silver coinage issed in 1887 in celebration of the jubilee of Queen Victoria included double florins (4s) and crowns (ss), but these coins were not often seen in circulation. Crowns are still struck by the Royal Mint, but because of their size and weight they are not in general use. Five pound coins in gold and £2 coins in gold were also struck by the mint as part of the Queen Victoria jubilee issue of new' coins, but these large, gold coins were seldom seen. During the war all gold coins were withdrawn from circulation in Great Britain, and paper monoy was substituted. Previous to this withdrawal the lowest denomination of paper money in circulation in England was the £5 note of the Bank of England.

MILLIONS OF PENNIES. I The objection of the British public to the threepenny bit has naturally resulted in large issues of bronze coin by the Royal Mint. The number of pennies in circulation in Great Britain varies with the activity of the shopping season, and reaches its greatest volume at Christmas, but in normal times the pennies in circulation amount to about £7,000,009, which is a little more than an average of three shillings per head for every man, woman and child. The introduction about 30 years ago of the penny-in-the-slot machines (and particularly the penny-in-thet-slot gas meter) and the ’expansion of cheap forms of travel by tram, train and bus, greatly increased the demand for pennies in England. During the commercial and industrial boom period caused by the war, when prices rose rapidly and continuously for six years, the Royal Mint more than ooubled its output of bronze coins. In 1913 the value of pennies issued by the mint was £272,000, and six years later the output exceeded £500,000 in value for the first time in the history of the mint, the total being £514,000. In 1921 the issue of pennies reacher the maximum amount of £536,000. Then came a phenomenal slump in the demand for pennies as a result of the general depression. In 1922 the Royal Mint’s issue of pennies was a little over £50,000 in value and in the next two years the< pennies in circulation met all demands, and none were issued by the mint. The chief collector of pennies in England is the Gas, Light and Coke Company (London), which has more than 600,000 penny-in-the-slot gas meters installed in flats and apartments in London. It is stated that at any given time the company has about 50,000,000 pennies (over £200,000) in its slot meters. When its collectors are on their rounds emptying the meters housewives exchange silver for some of the copper so as to have a supply of pennies on hand to keep up the supply of gas; but, despite this practice, millions of pennies are stored in the company’s cellars, after supplying the requirements of the banks and big traders, particularly the multiple shops. The company collects in the course of twelve months a revenue of nearly £3,000,000 (720,000,000 pennies) from its penny-in-the-slot machines, but the collectors manage to get rid of about two-thirds of the pennies to housewives and traders on their rounds. As £5 worth of pennies weighs about 25 lb., the collectors are anxious to get rid of as much as they can. But after all wants are supplied, and even the banks will take no more pennies, the Gas, Light and Coke Company finds itself with some millions of pennies for which it has to find storage room until the Christmas season creates a widespread demand for coppers. SMALL CHANGE. Until the 17th century there were no copper coins in use in Great Britain. Pennies, halfpennies, and farthings were 1 small silver coins, and until the reign of Henry 111, the halfpenny was not a round coin, but half of a penny, and farthings were made

by cutting a penny into four parts, 'these small coins were a nuisance, and in the 17th century the monasteries, innkeepers and traders began to issue tokens which passed as small coin. During the reign of Charley I. and throughout the period of the Commonwealth under Cromwell nearly every tradesman and innkeeper issued his own tokens. In 1665 pattern farthings were struck by the Government in copper, and in 1671 halfpence and farthings were generally issued. In 1874 the issue of tokens was prohibited by Royal proclamation. In 1860 copper coins were withdrawn from circulation and bronze coins substituted. From time to time stories have been current giving a fictitious value to bronze or copper coins issued in specified years. For instance, there was a widespread belief that pennies issued by the Royal Mint in 1864 had some gold in them, because some gold bars slipped into the melting pot where the alloy was being made for the minting of bronze coins. It was said that after the mistake had been discovered at the Mint every effort was made to recall the 1864 pennies, so that they could be melted down and the gold extracted. But there never was the slightest foundation in fact for the story that there was gold in the 1864 pennies. At the beginning of the 19th century a fictitious value was given to Queen Anne farthings. It was said that a specimen of this humble coin was worth £4OO. In 1814 a man was prosecuted in Dublin tor detaining a Queen Anne farthing, and counsel for the’ prosecution declared that only three specimens of this coin had been struck before the die was broken, and that a reward of £5OO had once been offered for the recovery of one of these farthings. The story was believed by the judge and jury, and the accused man was convicted and sentenced to twelve months’ imprisonment.