I move amendment No. 1:
To delete subsection (2).
Section 9 is the one which makes provision for the introduction of a ten shilling piece and for the elimination of the ten shilling note. It was suggested by Deputy Briscoe on the Second Stage that the ten shilling note should be retained and I should like to support this through this amendment and to have some discussion on this point in the House. We know from the introduction of the ten shilling coin arising out of the 1916 celebrations that a ten shilling coin is not readily acceptable in this country. There may, of course, have been particular reasons why the introduction of the coin at that time and of the particular coin was less successful than might have been the case otherwise. The coin, although attractive in appearance, had certain characteristics not associated in the public mind with a coin and indeed perhaps it had been designed to look more like a medal. It certainly did look rather like a medal. This may have contributed to the fact that they were not much used. However, think I am right in saying to the Minister concerned with this that a very large portion of the total number were not in fact issued and had to be melted down. We have this evidence of public reaction to the ten shilling coin issued in those circumstances.
Knowing that is the case, while I would not necessarily object to the introduction of a ten shilling coin to supplement the ten shilling note as a further experiment—a coin perhaps designed so that it would be more likely to receive public acceptance—I feel that to proceed to eliminate the ten shilling note as proposed here is something that we ought not to do without further experiment. We do know that there is a public reaction against a ten shilling coin and at this point in time a clear public preference of a very definite character for the ten shilling note. I do not consider that it is our function to impose a pattern of currency on the public different from that which they require.
On the Second Stage the Minister suggested that his justification for the introduction of the ten shilling coin— although not of course his justification for eliminating the ten shilling note— was that this coin would be useful for various kinds of coin-operated machines. He was clearly in some difficulty when pressed from this side of the House to state what kind of machines would take these coins because most of the things which are now sold through coin-operated machines are things, the total value of which is less than ten shillings. While, of course, with the inflation of money values we will no doubt see a move towards the point where a packet of cigarettes will cost ten shillings, this is unlikely to happen in the near future, we hope. In fact, it is difficult to see what kind of products the ten shilling coin will be used for in coin-operated machines in the near future on any extensive scale. It seems that that particular argument is a very weak one.
The Minister suggested that ten shilling notes are relatively expensive. It would be useful for the purpose of this debate, if he told us something about the relative cost of ten shilling notes and ten shilling coins and made at least some attempt at an economic justification for the procedure outlined. Even if there is some saving involved, I am by no means certain that we should proceed to do this at the expense of eliminating the ten shilling note. Accordingly, I should like the Minister to reconsider this decision. I should also like to ask him to consider whether it might not be more to the point to consider moving towards a five shilling coin rather than a ten shilling coin. However, that is another matter.
I should like to hear the Minister's views on this and to hear what is the exact economic justification for his decision and how he justifies it in the light of public reaction to the ten shilling coin that was introduced three years ago.