The main features of the measure I take from the statement of the Finance Minister, who, on the 26th of June, 1893, announced the introduction of a Bill “with the object of altering the Indian monetary standard from silver to gold,” and who in his next sentence declared that “It is not intended to do more at present than stop the free coinage of silver at the Indian mints, and as a provisional arrangement to provide for the issue of rupees at these mints in exchange for gold at the ratio of 1s. 4d. per rupee."[62] In a subsequent part of his speech Sir David Barbour states “that an arrangement for the receipt of gold at the mints at a ratio of 1s. 4d. per rupee will be made by executive order, and so will the arrangements for the receipt of sovereigns in payment of sums due to Government at the rate of fifteen rupees a sovereign.”  The current rate of exchange then, and still existing, is about 1s. 3d., and the Government thus proposed, by creating an artificial scarcity of rupees, to force up the gold value of the rupee by one rupee per sovereign.  Let us now glance at the cash effects of the measure on the finances of the Government and the prosperity of the people; and in doing so I shall, to aid the comprehension of the English reader who knows nothing of lakhs, or crores, or Rs. x, state the figure in pounds sterling, treating the rupee at its old value of 2s.  To do this will not materially affect my statements, for, though some articles have risen in price, others have fallen, and, on the average, the rupee (excepting as regards labourers’ wages, which have much risen in many parts of India in recent years) goes nearly as far in India as it ever did, a fact which is fully corroborated by several very competent witnesses examined by the Currency Committee, though one witness maintained that silver prices in India had risen.[63] It may be interesting to note in this connection that the purchasing price of silver in China has remained unchanged for many years past, and that for the last thirty years there has been little change in the purchasing power of the rupee in Ceylon.  Both these statements I make on the authority of witnesses examined before the Currency Committee.

What then would be the cash effect (1) on the finances, and (2) on the people, were the Government successful in forcing up the gold value of the rupee by one rupee a sovereign?  The saving that the Government would effect in remitting money to England to pay home charges would amount to about L1,570,000,[64] but as the amount is liable to loss by exchange we must make a deduction, and, in round numbers, the sum that the Government would save is about a million and a half sterling.  Now as to the people of India.  What the Government gains, i.e., a rupee a sovereign, the seller of produce must lose, as exporters could afford to give them just so much less than they now do.  Now, taking the exports of India at one hundred millions,[65] the currency measure of the Government would cause