CO882-(2-3) — Page 459

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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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now

15. As it will be necessary to provide for the substitution of rupees and cents according to their equivalent value for the amounts expressed in pounds, shillings, and pence, all local Ordinances in which these latter terms occur should be either amended or repealed and re-enacted. The latter course, though involving more labour at first, would greatly simplify all future calculations under such ordinances.

16. The principle upon which the conversions from the old to the new denominations shall be conducted will require careful consideratiou. Under the Customs Revenue Ordinances, in which the duties are expressed in the standard currency of the United Kingdom, for example, the Govern- ment has hitherto been content to receive fifty rupees, or fifty florins of still less intrinsic value, If, for every 51. sterling stated to be due. therefore, the conversion of the 51. into the new currency were governed by the number of rupees represented by a sovereign, as laid down in the projected Order in Council, the 51. sterling would be represented by fifty-four and a-half rupees, and thus an increased Customs duty of

9 per cent. would in effect be levied.

17. This procedure would doubtless excite much opposition from the mercantile body; and although, on the one side, it might be said that the Government was now claiming only what for many years past it had been legally entitled to, on the other side it might be alleged with great force that, the Customs laws having been originally fixed with reference to the wants of the public service, and the required amount of revenue having been thus obtained, it would be impolitic, if not altogether unjust, to take advan- tage of this unforeseen change in the currency law in arbitrarily imposing an additional duty of

9 per cent. on Customs. The same argument must apply to all Revenue Ordinances now in existence, and, in substituting for them new Revenue Ordinances, the equitable course will be to regard the sovereign, in lieu of which heretofore the depreciated silver tokens have been accepted at their nominal value, as being equi valent to only ten rupees, and, if the public revenue requires augmentation, to secure that object by avowed additions to the imposts.

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18. The same procedure should, I think, be adopted with regard to the conversion of salaries. In arriving at this decision, I have been guided by the considerations that, on the whole, it is not necessary to increase the salaries paid to officers in the service of the Colony, and that the majority of the servants of the Colonial Government have received their present appointments with a full knowledge that they would not receive their salaries in gold. Moreover, I should be unwilling

to make the large addition to the cost of the establishments of the Colony which the conver- sion of existing salaries on any other basis would practically involve, while no corresponding addi- tion is made to the revenue.

19. The creation of the proposed new standard of value will necessitate such further legislative action as will provide for the withdrawal of notes valued respectively, 51., 11., and 10. a-piece, which have been issued under the control of the Currency Commissioners, and for the substitution

of rupee notes of convenient amounts in their stead. The old notes will, I presume, come under the definition of written contracts, and substantial justice will be done to those who hold them by placing them in that category, and by redeeming them in coins of equal value to those

in exchange for which the Commissioners issued them, and for which they now pass from hand to hand throughout the Colony.

20. Provision should in like manner be made

for the issue of revenue and postage stamps expressed in rupees and cents, in place of those now in use, which represent shillings and pence.

21. Although for the present it will, doubtless, he found convenient—within the limits prescribed by the proposed Order in Council-to retain in circulation the subsidiary silver, copper, and bronze coins or tokens now current, it should be considered whether eventually those may not with advantage be displaced by small silver and bronze tokens representing decimal fractions of the rupee, less than 50 cents. They should, of course, only be legal tender to a limited extent. The difference between their actual and nominal value would amply repay the expense of coining and introducing, and, as their circulation would