PUBLIC RECORD OFFICE
Reference :-
C.O. 882
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PUBLIC RECORD OFFICE, LONDON
ALLY WITHOUT PERMISSION OF THE BE REPRODUCED PHOTOGRAPHIC- | COPYRIGHT PHOTOGRAPH—NOT TO
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but be that as it may, it seems that silver coin alone was supplied by the Government to the colonies, and it is certain that in Mauritius it has been the only British coin in circulation, and has been to any amount a legal tender, at its full nominal rate. The Government uses no other means of paying salaries and other liabilities. But the silver coin thus used was much below the intrinsic value which it repre- sented, and although it may be very useful as a mere subordinate coin to the sovereign, when its tender is limited to a small sum, it can never be made to represent more than its intrinsic value when its tender is without any limit. The intrinsic sterling value of a shilling is 11-27d., and twenty of such were therefore, equal to 18s. 94d.; a pound, there- fore, consisting of twenty of such pieces, was worth only 188. 9 d. sterling, at which rate the sovereign would be worth 21s. 3fd., or nearly the same as it actually was by the rating of the franc at 10d., from 1825 to 1838. I am well aware of the arguments which have been used to show that, under the cir- cumstances, our English shilling, though of less intrinsic value than the 20th part of a sovereign, might still retain that full nominal value in the absence of any limit of tender or means of being converted at pleasure into sovereigns, simply because a supply of them could not be obtained at a smaller cost than of 11. sterling for each twenty. Under some particular circumstances that fact would, no doubt, have the effect ascribed to it; but, under others, and especially under those in which Mauri- tius was placed, it must wholly fail to maintain the integrity of the currency. If such a check were sufficient to maintain the full value of the currency anywhere, it would be in England; but I apprehend that no one will deny that great inconvenience and fluctuations would arise if we were to dispense with the limit of tender of silver coin, and rely only upon the check that by the Mint regulations, 20s. can be procured only for a sovereign. If there are objections to a double standard, that is, an unlimited tender of gold and silver, when the silver coin represents as nearly as possible the intrinsic value of the gold coin, how much more objectionable must it be, when the silver coin is a mere token depreciated in proportion to the value for which it is a legal tender, by 61 per cent.
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42. In 1825, when the Order in Council was passed with a view to this new system, the difficulty seems to have been foreseen; for it appears that, with a view to obviate it, instructions of the Trea- sury were issued, that at certain hours of every day in the week, the Colonial authorities should be prepared to receive British silver of an amount not less than 1034, and to grant bills on the Treasury for 1001. for such deposits. In the West India Islands the rate was 1012, 10s. of silver for each 100%. of Treasury bills. Had this regulation been acted upon,
it would have gone far to prevent depreciation, or at least, to confine it within a very limited
extent.
But even then, for sums less than 1002, a further depreciation would have at times taken place, in order to procure smaller bills—something
in the shape of a banker's or broker's commission. But it appears that this regulation was soon aban- doned, and was never, or at least for a very short time, acted upon; and that the Commissariat issued bills on the Treasury only at the full market-rates, from time to time, whatever those might be. The only check then left against depreciation was the Mint regulation for the issue of silver.
43. In order to show how extremely defective that check was in the case of the Mauritius, let me point out a case which frequently occurred there, and does so in every country. Circumstances are constantly arising in every country that lead to the exportation of coin at one time, and to its importa- tion at another; and no monetary system is perfect that does not admit of these influxes and effluxes with the least possible loss and interruption. In
the case of Mauritius, with a circulation of British coin only, it is plain that an influx could not take place but at the full price of a pound for 20s. The Mint regulations would prevent that. Well, sup- pose the currency is full at that rate, and propor- tioned to the ordinary trainnétions-based upon ordinary crop of ungar. So long as slim-sontinwed, the inau from the crop would pay the whole omigsings of
shad; that is, the sugar shipped
the
to England, or in other words the bills drawn sprimat it, womid pay first, for the whole imports from Europe, moand, for the imports of rien, &c., from ladin, and provisioca from Mòdugunone and clsewhere, and the the silver required-suureplan thuc which the Coolies vi
All outgoings.