On the subject of the waste in the gold currency,
Mr. Childers proposed immediate action. He proposes to issue a new token half-sovereign, intrinsically worth only 9s., by which all the existing half-sovereigns would be superseded, and to issue £250,000 worth every year for the next twenty years. The gross profit of this transaction would be £2,500,000. But out of this must be paid—(1), the deficiency on the present half- sovereigns, which is estimated at £220,000; (2), the deficiency on the present light sovereigns, which he estimates at 2510,000; (3), the loss on other sovereigns which will become light during the next twenty years, which he estimates at £320,000; (4), the cost of recoinage, 270,000 ; and (5), contingencies, £50,000.
The total cost is, therefore, £1,170,000, which, being deducted from £2,500,000, the gross profit, leaves 21,330,000, besides accumulated interest, to keep the gold coinage full weight after it has once been restored to full weight. This the Treasury hopes then to do at the cost of e40,000 a year.
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