PUBLIC RECORD OFFICE
Te Ti
Reference :-
C.O. 882
3 PUBLIC RECORD OFFICE, LONDON
ALLY WITHOUT PERMISSION OF THE BE REPRODUCED PHOTOGRAPHIC- COPYRIGHT PHOTOGRAPH-NOT TO
have been allowed to remain in abeyance would not only render abortive any attempt to enforce compliance with them, but even tend to bring about a monetary crisis which, in the interest of the community, it is the duty of the Government to do all in its power to avert.
9. Bearing in mind that a considerable balance
on trade is payable annually by Mauritius to India, that many exchange operations between the Colony and other parts of the world pass through that country, and that by far the greater portion of the inhabitants of the island are of Indian origin, I have come to the conclusion that a sound and safe solution of the difficulty will be
found in following, with some slight variations, the system adopted in 1871 by the Government of Ceylon, and constituting the Indian rupee the standard of value for Mauritius.
10. To carry this plan into effect, it will be necessary to repeal all the existing currency law. of the Colony, and to pass an Order in Council embodying the provisions of the draft which is inclosed. The only important difference between the proposed Order and that which now governs the currency of Ceylon is that, while in Ceylon the rupee is the only legal tender, it is provided that in Mauritius, in order to avoid unnecessarily contracting the circulating medium or demonetis- ing the coin of the realm, certain foreign coins now current in the island, as well as British sovereigns, are retained as legal tender in die charge of debt.
11. As in this proposed Order rates are assigned to such coins socording to their intrinsic worth, measured by the rupee, it is not anticipated that their circulation will be thereby affected. The object to be desired is that they shall be neither repelled nor attracted, but that, whenever they
are brought into the Island, they may be avail- able for the legal discharge of debts at certain fixed rates.
12. The relative values of these several coins have been arrived at by assessing the value of a rupee-according to the average gold price
of silver in the London market during the last three years, and excluding impracticable frac tions at 1s. 10d. sterling. Should coniderable
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divergence hereafter take place in the great money markets of the world between the ex- changeable quantities of gold and silver, it may be found expedient at certain intervals to alter the rating of the gold coins. I do not apprehend that any practical difficulty would result from an occasional re-valuation of the gold coin in circulation, as the commerce of the Island-being almost entirely carried on in __rupees-would not be sensibly influenced thereby. For the same reason slight fluctuations in the market values of the precious metals would not render necessary a re-adjustment of the relative
rates of gold and silver coins.
13. I have to request that, on receipt of this despatch, you will lose no time in laying the pro- posed Order before your Council, and, with the concurrence of that body, in confidentially ascer taining the opinions of the managers of the banks and of the Chambers of Commerce and Agriculture as representing the mercantile and planting interests-on the subject, sa I consider it most desirable, when dealing with an important measure of this nature, in which the whole community is so deeply concerned, that the mp- port and co-operation of its principal and most intelligent members should be secured. In doing this you will not fail to call their attention to the fact that the interests of all concerned in any written contracts, whether effected by the Govern- ment or by private individuals, which may be in existence when the proposed Order shall come into force, are protected by a clause which pro- vides for the satisfaction of all claims arising therefrom, according to the meaning and intention,
at the time when they were entered into, of the parties to such contracts.
14. Should the opinions you may elicit from these representative bodies be in favour of a rupee standard, with decimal subdivisions, you will be good enough to notify the same to me with as little delay as possible, and, in the mean- time, in concert with your Council, to make such preparatory arrangements as may be requisite to give effect to the new law as soon after its rescking you as it may be deemed deźbable to promulgate it.
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