Amusement 26 · Merchant’s Coins 26

Two youths, bearing the pleasant names of Moggs and Snoggs, were employed as junior clerks by a merchant in Mincing Lane. They were both engaged at the same salary—that is, commencing at the rate of £50 a year, payable half-yearly. Moggs had a yearly rise of £10, and Snoggs was offered the same, only he asked, for reasons that do not concern our puzzle, that he might take his rise at £2, 10 s. half-yearly, to which his employer (not, perhaps, unnaturally!) had no objection. Now we come to the real point of the puzzle. Moggs put regularly into the Post Office Savings Bank a certain proportion of his salary, while Snoggs saved twice as great a proportion of his, and at the end of five years they had together saved £268, 15 s. How much had each saved? The question of interest can be ignored.

两个年轻人，有着好听的名字，莫格斯和斯诺格斯，被明辛巷的一个商人雇用为初级职员。他们的工资相同，即起薪为每年 50 英镑，每半年支付一次。莫格斯每年加薪 10 英镑，斯诺格斯也得到了同样的待遇，只是他要求以 2 英镑、10 秒的价格加薪，原因与我们的困惑无关。半年一次，他的雇主对此没有反对(也许不是不自然！)。现在我们来到了难题的真正关键点。莫格斯定期将自己工资的一定比例存入邮局储蓄银行，而斯诺格斯则将两倍的比例存入邮局储蓄银行，五年后，他们总共存了 268 英镑 15 先令。每人存了多少钱？利息问题可以忽略不计。