THE POOR PENNY.

Stratford Evening Post, Volume XXIX, Issue 147, 14 August 1911, Page 3

THE POOR PENNY.

In the course of an article published in “Nature,” Air John Milne, who is best known as an authoiity on the subject of earthquakes, makes some complaints against the penny. Do admits that the plebian brown coin will pay a tram-fare, buy a newspaper, or delight the heart of a child, but be does not see why its range of usefulness should not lie extended. The penny is supposed to weigh onethird of an ounce, or 1 -1b.8.‘3.'.id grains, and it is of no assistance to the man who wants to know whether a letter is within the weight-limit of half an ounce. Now if a hole were made through the centre ,of the penny, the weight could be brought down to the exact quarter-ounce. There would lie an additional advantage in the fact that the coin whose pocket contained a number of loose coins, would he able to find a penny at once by the feel and would be in no danger of discovering later in the day that he had inadvertently parted with a halfcrown piece. The penny lias no preuse measurements, from Die point oi

view oi' the ordinary citizen. 1 ts diameter is ii little; hit more than an j-cli and one-fifth. No 'inn Know:, v, iiy then 1 should ho “a hit!- 1 hit more” at. all. !f tlio diameter were exactly six-fifths of an inch, live pen-

nies placed in a line would cover a distance of six inches. , Moreover, the saving that would lie effected by the slight reduction in size and the punching of the centre hole would amount to very many thousands of pounds. But the penny has other unsatisfactory features, according to Mr Milne. It is not round, its longest diameter being from,a point above Britannia’s head to another point below the fringes of her skirt, and it has no exact thickness. The original sheets of bronze arc stated not to vary more than one ton-thousandth part of an inch, but the punching, pressing, and milling destroy all scientific symmetry. It is true that forty-eight pennies weigh one pound, out then no-

body would think of carrying such a quantity of metal. Mr Milne wonders why the authorities do not make the coins of a lighter and cheaper metal, thus conferring a general benefit all round.