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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may have been done to individuals, at the time, as creditors, it is clear that all obligations now existing, which have been entered into since 1843 represent only 2 rupees, or 330 grains of silver for each dollar. This change in the value of the dollar, and perhaps some convenience in the keeping of accounts, making the rupee exactly half-a-dollar, are the only real effects which I can discover as resulting from the Convention. Ever since 1844 the crops have been large, bills generally in suffi- cient abundance, and scarcely ever at a premium, and abundance of means have therefore existed to import rupees from India for sugar exported. But if
they ever again experience such bad crops as those of
1842-43 and 1843-44, and the exchanges become
as adverse as they were then, a recurrence of the
same inconvenience will be experienced as in 1843, in spite of the nominal value they attach to the
rupee.
57. Thus it appears that the result of all these events has been to establish in Mauritius a cur- rency based on silver, while the intention was that the standard should be gold. The origin of this, it
is plain, was the erroneous rating of silver coins, Silver has and their being an unlimited tender. consequently been the fixed metal, and gold the fluctuating metal, instead of the reverse, as should be the case with a gold standard. This error, begun
in 1825, continued in 1838 by the proclamations of the Government, was finally adopted and perpe- tuated by public convention in 1843. And now we find that the standard of value is silver; that the money in account is the Dollar, represented by a current coin of Rupees, in the proportion of 2 to 1. is 165 grains, and consequently the The rupee dollar, forming all the money obligations entered into since 1843, represents 330 grains of silver, just as every pound of obligation in England represents 113 grains of gold. There are some exceptions where debts have been contracted under special agreement as to the mode of payment. The rela- tion, therefore, which the existing currency of Mauritius bears to sterling money is as follows :
1 Rupee
1 Dollar
1. d. 1 10 384
54 or 514 Dollars..
20 6
:
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The rating of the dollar in account by proclama. tion is 48. sterling, but we have seen that that valuc never attached to it, as it was at the same time made payable at 38. 9., and afterwards at 3s. 10fd. The corrected rates of 1843 would have appreciated the dollar to 48.
58. The people in Mauritius demand that the rupee shall be rated at 28., or 10 to the pound. The demand put in these terms involves simply an im- possibility. There is but one pound, and that is the pound sterling. That pound contains, as nearly as can be computed, 1774 grains of silver, one-tenth of which is 177.4 grains, and as the rupee contains but 165 grains, it is simply impossible, by any act of the Government, to make the one a 10th of the other.
It would be as easy to make two and two into five. Whatever justice, or convenience, on public grounds, may be involved in the substantial plan of Mau- ritius, when divested of its apparent contradiction in terms, it is clear that it would only be perpetu- ating an error and anomaly to adopt it as proposed.
59. It is, however, only justice to the Rupee Committee to say, that they mean pounds sterling, payable not in sterling gold, but in British silver, of a depreciated value as compared with gold. And in that sense it is impossible to deny that the claim, when put in other terms, has much force in it. It is true there is no other pound sterling but that which consists of 1774 grains of silver; but the Act of the Government in 1825 made it to consist of 1665-5 grains of silver and in 1888, of 1724-5 graitis
of silver, payable in foreign silver coins; and always
Under this
by British silver of an unlimited tender, of the intrinsic value of 1614 grains of silver. combination of circumstances the Pound actually introduced into the Mauritius by the various acts of the Government, has not been the pound sterling, but a pound in amouni, varying from 18s. 7Jd. to 198. 3fd. sterling in foreign coins, and in British silver, in which it was alone payable, of 18s, 2fd., the sove- reign, the only coin which represents the pound sterling, having ped current for from 21s, to 22. of such British silver.
90. What erbsurdity, then, there is in demand- ing that a rupes of 165 grains of silver shall be the fth of a pound sterling, which is 1774 grains, it is evident that it has its origin only in the acts of the I
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PUBLIC RECORD OFFICE
Reference :-
TREEC.O. 882
سلسياسا
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PUBLIC RECORD OFFICE, LONDON
ALLY WITHOUT PERMISSION OF THE COPYRIGHT PHOTOGRAPH-NOT TO BE REPRODUCED PHOTOGRAPHIC-
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Government, by the errors already pointed out. The Government pound of account in Mauritius never has been a pound sterling, but something considerably less, the pound sterling, or sovereign, having always been worth 21s, or 22s.
Had foreign coins been correctly rated, had British silver tokens been limited in tender to 408., as in England, the sovereign could never have commanded a premium, but must have circulated freely in the colony. The currency would have been at its full value. A sovereign, and 208. in silver, would have been synonymous, both representing 1774 grains of silver;
a dollar would have been 348‡ grains; and 28., or the 10th of such a pound, would have been 177} grains, in exchange for rupees from India; and in that case no demand could ever have arisen to make a rupee of 165 grains, equal to 177 grains, or to theth of 1774 grains. Therefore, however absurd and inconsistent the demand of the Mauritius, that the rupee should be made the oth of a pound, may appear at first sight, a careful consideration of the circumstances shows that it is not so unreason- able as it seems, and that the anomaly has arisen from the errors of the Government. What the Mauritius people substantially say is this, * you have introduced a pound into our currency, in which all Government accounts are kept, but which is not a pound sterling represented by a sovereign, or 1774 grains of silver, but a depreciated pound in- trinsically worth from 188. 2fd. to 198. 3 d. ster- ling. We have a coin (the rupee) which from a variety of circumstances we have found the most convenient to make our current money and the representative of our money in account, the in- trinsic value of 10 of which coins is 18s. 7d.; we ask that it may also pass to the Government in payment of duties and taxes, at the rate of to of such depreciated pound, it having fully that intrinsic value measured in the only coin which representa the pound in question.”
61. On the other hand, the Government reply, "we will only accept your rupees at their intrinsic value, measured not by the pound we have intro- cluced, but by the pound sterling which we intended to introduce." This anomaly then arises, whatever Kums the Government pays to the public, are paid not in pounds, or sovereigns, representing 1774
What measures
are needful to reform the Car- rency, and remove
the anomalies.
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grains of silver, but in coins representing 1614 grains of silver; but when money is to be paid to the Government by the public, they will not accept in the most current coin of the island (the rupee), even 1650 grains of silver, but insist upon receiving 1774 grains of silver in rupees. It is true they will accept 1614 grains of the same silver they issue;
but the people say,
rate this coin, which is the most convenient for us according to its intrinsic value measured in the only coin you issue, and not
in relation to a coin (the sovereign) which always bears a premium in relation to your own pound which you pay ;" and it is impossible to deny the substantial justice of this demand. I think it un- necessary to refer in detail to the numerous absurd arguments which have been used in the island in support of a 28. rating of the rupee. It is more necessary that we should see how the disgraceful snomalies now existing can be rectified.
62. But whatever grounds of right there may be substantially in the demand made by the Mauritius people, it is obvious that it would only perpetuate
an inconvenient anomaly to comply with it in the way in which they wish, and to declare a rupee to be equal to 28., or the tenth of a pound. That step would simply continue the present depreciation of the pound, and thus perpetuate the existence of a new denomination of money, a Colonial Pound, different in intrinsic value from the Pound Sterling, which, not being well understood, would lead to constant errors. But substantial relief may he given to the colony, and their demands complied with without any breach of the strictest principles of monetary science.
63. The time has arrived when the currency of Mauritius should be placed on a sound footing. The public feeling, almost amounting to exaspe- ration, at the disgraceful and inconvenient anoma- lies, render the subject, in the opinion of the Governor, one of urgency and importance. Nor does it, fortunately, present any real difficulty, if rocomplished in accordance with strict, prinolple.
84. At the pressut moment there are nominally two standards of value in the island, but rondly only one. Nominally, the Government assumes gold, but really it is dilver, as explained. The public, by convention originally, and now by cuetoni, hava “