The Sun.
London, England, 1860-04-14 00:00:00

PAPER CURRENCY IN INDIA.

A paper currency is with us so established an
element of civilization, that when Mr. Wilson states
the case for its introduction into India the feeling
of the British reader will be simply surprise that it
should have been deferred so long. Almost any
barbarism would be as intelligible as that the ordi-
nary transfer of " treasure" from one part of India
to the other, for the adjustment of the balance of
trade or the payment of troops, should entail an
addition of 30,000 men to the standing army. With
scarcely less surprise do we hear that the Indian
Mint is now coining rupees at the rate of £12,000,000
sterling a year, and that it is taken for granted
that a large proportion of this money will be
hoarded. Our histories and story-books tell us of
Indian treasuries, deep in castles and caves, guarded
by dragons or jins, accessible by an " Open, se-
same," or an old lamp, and we think it very natural
that such golden dreams should once have had a
sort of reality in some barbarous age of tyranny
and rapine ; but that British machinery should now
be at work at its utmost speed, manufacturing dap
and night, from Spanish dollars or Mexican ingots,
rupees destined to be buried in Hindoo fastnesses,
and to figure in future tales, seems simply a mis-
take and an absurdity. Why should this be P Why
should money go to and fro in India any more than
in England ? Here, as we know, immense sums of
money are flowing across the isle every day in all di-
relations through the quiet channels of the post, and,
though the work is unseen and the means impalpable,
tke result is attained as effectually as if every pay-
ment were made in boxes of gold and silver, con-
veyed in waggons, and escorted by troops of
cavalry. Unfortunately, there is nothing so easy
as to send £l,OOO or £lOO,OOO to anybody any-
where in this isle. It is but a stroke of the pen.
Tour left hand need not know what your right
hand is doing; and the letter once despatched yea
can neither see nor stop the process ; nescit vex
missu ?Trutt'. Philip of Macedon, had he lived in
these days, would not even have wanted an opening
in the wall large enough for an ass laden with gold.
A draught on a good commercial house, hidden in*
shoe or a sword-hilt would have answered all pur-
poses. Naaman would have given Gehazi a
cheque on his banker, which the latter would have
kept in his pocket or laid by in his desk, instead Of
clumsily stowing it away in his tower; though it
must be admitted the transaction would have been
not the less open to investigation. All this we
understand. We feel that modern usages are to
handy and convenient, compared with the actual
transfer of whole shiploads and caravans of the
precious metals, as the lighter coin of Athens was
compared with the iron currency of Sparta, or so
the universal dollar is compared with cowries, rock
salt, leather, and other bulky media of exchange-
But everybody must feel it a mere oversight of the
Anglo-Indian Government, and a confession of its
want of enterprise, that now, in the middle of the
19th century, so wealthy and intelligent a comma-
nity should not have the commercial facilities that
we have long enjoyed at home, and that contribute
so much to our convenience and wealth.
As to what is to be done, the story is soon told.
Mr. Wilson proposes five banks of issue, with cor-
responding circles or districts. For himself, he
would evidently have no objection to rupee notes,
but he proposes a middle course between the
Bank of England note and thaler note of Ger-
many, and the still smaller Rote of Sweden and
other countries. The lowest note is to be for
five rupees, or ten shillings. Each bank in giving
notes in exchange for coin is to lay up at least s
third of the coin in its vaults, and to invest not ex-
ceeding a third in Government securities, which
will thus be withdrawn from the hands of the pub-
lic. This proportion is taken from our own Bank
Charter Act, and Mr. Wilson considers that it will
be at least as safe in India as at home. The note
itself, mutatis mutandis, is to be the same as the
Bank of England's, both in paper, water-mark, and
engraving, and no doubt it must for a long time
baffle the ingenuity of forgers. As for the metallic
basis, Mr. Wilson decides in favour of the existing
silver currrency, which from time immemorial has
always been supposed in Indian payments. lie
rests on the injustice of substituting one metal far
another by a mere act of sovereign power, and the
proved impossibility of a double standard of value.
This is a point that has long been settled, and the
argument is only reproduced to reconcile us to the
objection that will certainly be felt to a silver cur'
rency which is to pervade a fifth of the humsn
race, and of which the British nation is to be the
guardian and manager. That they may not inter-
fere with the new Banks of Issue, the privilege °f
issuing notes now enjoyed by some of the Indian
_
banks is to be withdrawn, and Mr. Wilson informs
us that they will be no great losers by the loss o.l_
it, so costly are the restrictions with which it 10
clogged. Side by side with the Banks of Issue'
and having the same relation to them as the bank'
ing departmcnt of the Bank of England, Mr. ..i.
son contemplates the future formation of the
jva-
tional Indian Banks, but they are not part of t"
present proposition.
It is possible that Mr. Wilson may see his v
to the future substitution of a gold for a silver 014
rency, but may think it necessary at pres.e".
to give no hint that may be misrepresented into
breach of faith. Of course it is quite possible t,
commute engagements for silver into equivaj
engagements for gold, giving, if necessary, a sil_gselici
paper premium
dhanfigvee.
district
ts
btahneksproshpooo,l
cur for the
ea
ne
carriage of coin to and fro at the call of the market
almost entirely obviate the costly and dangerous
or the demands of the public service, then the,_":
will still be a constant loss and considerable risk,
through the weight of the metal. One rillu;
sterling in the shape of gold weighs about 10 toa,_
in silver about 150. It is true that a railway
can carry one just as easily and as quickly as d the
other; but the rail does not go everywhere.
the other. If this future saving by the substitution
escort of the one will be more costly than and
escort
of gold for silver can be capitalised, and Fietki,
once to the possessors of obligations in silver,tiution of
could not reasonably object to the s
e maY;
the Chang
score. Ten or twenty years hence
nt value.hooL
not be so easy as now. At the present gold, which would save all future trouble on that
estion.
, qu
eh a n ,c,re. This, however, is a secondary„aeli,to t,,
At home wort.: i:r.portance will Le
silver its owners are sure to be no osers
al; Mr. Wilsoni
ratio of bullion and securities fixed Y,
rovviedge of
This is a point which depends on K nor can
right pr°P
we expect at once to hit the
local circumstances and national I.abits
Times