asked the Minister for Finance if he is aware of the shortage of copper coinage at present, and if, in view of the hardship and inconvenience caused to the general public and traders, he will take steps to increase the amount of copper coinage in circulation.
Ceisteanna—Questions. Oral Answers. - Copper Coinage.
The information available to the Central Bank does not indicate any general shortage of small coin. The adequacy of the supply of copper coin cannot be judged by itself, but must be related in some measure to the availability of nickel coin. The Central Bank continues to provide increasing amounts of small coin, an addition of over £36,000 in face value having been made to the outstanding amount of halfpence, pence and threepenny pieces in the 11 months ended 28th February, 1946.
I should like to mention to the Minister that there is at the moment a considerable shortage of copper coinage. It may have been greater in the past few months, but there is a considerable shortage at the present moment. Anybody in business knows the difficulty of getting copper coins from the banks. They simply have not got them and it has affected the general public. I, therefore, urge on the Minister to put more into circulation, if at all possible.
I have made inquiries and the information I have got from the Central Bank, which, of course, is in touch with the commercial banks throughout the country, is that there is no general shortage. One complaint reached my office, and when I followed it up, I found that there was no basis for it. There is, in fact, no general shortage of copper coinage. It may happen that, in a particular case, for a few days there may be some shortage, but there is no general shortage. After all, if there was a shortage, it would be in the Central Bank's own interest to have more coppers coined, because there is a very big initial profit in the transaction.
My information has been quite the contrary to the Minister's. I have been informed by a number of banks that there is a considerable shortage.
Ask the penny-in-the-slot fellows to open the slots every fortnight instead of every month.