" Par " and Lord Overstone have both replied to
Sir John Lubbock in the Times, on the theoretical point involved in the suggested diminution of the gold in the sovereign by way of a charge for mintage,—" Par" quite unintelligibly, and Lord Over- -stone, as it seems to us, perversely. " Par " argues that 123 grains -of standard gold plus a Queen's head (the present sovereign) must be just worth a grain more than 122 grains of standard gold plus a Queen's head, the proposed sovereign,—which, if both were legal tender at the same time, no man in his senses ever disputed. But he uses that very harmless statement to prove that, even if the present sovereigns be called in, and the charge of one grain for the mintage -of 122 grains of gold be made in future, the sovereign thus obtained cannot be worth as much as the present sovereign, con- taining 123 grains with a gratuitous mintage, is now worth. The man confuses the utility of the thing with its cost. We suppose grain which it has cost 80s. to produce in a very bad harvest is no more useful than grain which has coat 40s. in a very good one ; but the former cost more, and, therefore, sells for more none the less.
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