AGENT
Coun
Off
217
of the weight and composition of these coins, his attention had been drawn to the course generally followed in the case of token coins issued in virtue of the Prerogative of the Crown, or to the conditions under which such coins circulate.
In this country the token silver coinage is regulated by Act of Parliament because silver was formerly the standard of value, and had become the subject of Legislation before the coinage was reduced to its present subsidiary condition by the Act of 1816.
But the composition and weight of the copper coinage are not so regulated, and the recent change in that coinage was effected by the authority of ... without any public notification of the composition of the new coins.
And there is reason for this reserve. A token is the representative in exchange of a given value, which the token itself does not intrinsically possess, and may consist of paper, or any other worthless material. The only object of using available metal is that its debasement below ...