t 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