CO882-(1-2) — Page 306

PUBLIC RECORD OFFICE

Reference :-

TTLE C.O. 882

سليسانس

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ALLY WITHOUT PERMISSION OF THE COPYRIGHT PHOTOGRAPH-NOT TO BE REPRODUCED PHOTOGRAPHIC-

PUBLIC RECORD OFFICE, LONDON

currency.

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Mauritius has never yet had a gold standard nor a gold It is equally a fact beyong all controversy, that the only standard they have had, and the only currency, have been silver. Prior to 1825 both were French silver; from 1825 to 1838, for the reasons I have pointed out, both continued to be French pieces of one and two francs; from 1838 to 1843, the rating of the rupee having been made rather below French silver, and that coin being more easily obtained, it became the chief general currency. Since 1843, by the convention, it has been the sole with the community; so that now and for currency years past the currency of the Mauritius stands thus: 87. (1.) Their obligations are all expressed in Dollars of account.

88. (2.) The only circulating coin is Rupees of 165 grains of silver, which represent 50 cents, or half-a-dollar.

89. Their standard of value, therefore, is a single their coin Rupees; Silver standard;

their

of money account Dollars, representing 2 rupees, or 330 grains of pure silver.

90. All their transactions with England are con- verted into sterling by the ordinary rules of ex- changes. So far then as regards the whole community of the Mauritius in their transactions among each other, the currency is precisely the same as that of India, except that in the Mauritius the centisimal divisions of a rupee are used in account, instead of the far less convenient divisions of annas and pice. Practically they are both the same.

♦ 91. The Government officers alone keep their ac- counts in the present most imperfect sterling currency, and alone confine their transactions to British silver. But the Government of the Mauritius could conform to the practice of the community, as the Government of India does, much more easily than the community can conform to the practice of the Government, and without the slightest injustice to any one, or depar- ture from the strictest principles which should govern a currency, and certainly with infinitely less trouble and expense than it would cost to reform the present

and introduce a gold circulation. sterling currency,

92. We have already seen what preliminary mea- sures would be indispensable to the introduction of a sound gold standard and circulation. The Govern- ment must provide itself with sovereigna, in order

Fallacy as to public salaries and troops paid in Rupees at

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to pay all salaries and other obligations, and to redeem the surplus of the present British silver not then required as mere subordinate coins; and after that was done, a great variety of adjustments must take place between the rates of the existing currency and the new one; not difficult of execution, but attended with much trouble both to the Govern- ment and the public.

93. But in the event of the Government con- forming to the practice of the community, the in account standard, the current coin, and the money would remain exactly as they are. adjustments would require to be made.

But some

94. In the first place, all the salaries of the public servants and of the troops which are payable in full sterling money, would require to be converted into the new rate. And here I must notice a very plausible but very erroneous notion, which all the witnesses before the Rupee Committee expressed, and which the Committee have adopted in their report, with regard to this part of the question. They all say that the public servants and troops would cheerfully accept rupees in place of sterling money, at the rate of 2s., or ten to the pound, from rupee because the community will again take the them at the same rate of 28., or of ten to the pound; and, therefore, that it is the same to them so long as they can pass the coin at the same rate as they receive it.

95. The fallacy lies here: the 10th of the pound to which they are entitled, or 20., is 177·4 grains of allver; the rupee is 168 grains. Degrade the 10th of a pound from 177-4 grains to 185 grains of silver, still calling it the same coin, and what will the effect be? To raise the price of every article in exactly the same proportion, as the price of every- thing is determined alone by the quantity of silver contained in the coin. The goods imported from Europe, the rice imported from India, and the beef from Madagascar, are all sold at prices in the quan. currency of the island, fixad according to the tity of pura-eflater that the coin contains or that the money in safeSS 1. And although it is

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