The Sun.
London, England, 1860-04-26 00:00:00

BRITISH COL UMBLI.

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Our dates from Victoria, Vaucouver's Island
(states the New York _Herald), Ware to the 14th
March. From our files we learn that the Legisla-
tive Assembly commeneed its second session on
the Ist.

The leading men in that colony are strongly in.
favour of the introduction into British Columbia'di
a large Chinese population, for the purpose of deve-
loping its mineral resources. They argue that, as
at present there is no likelihood of a large im-
migration of Europeans or Americans to their
shores, out of two evils, it is the best to choose
the least, and rather than that the interests of
the colony should suffer from the absence of the
whites, the Asiatics and those of a darker hue
should by all means be invited to our shores.
Acting on these propositions, the " Johns" are com-
ing up from California in batches of forties and
fifties, by almost every arrival. As for the coloured
folks, there arc enough of them at present in *Victoria
to do John Bull' for a century. These latter sub-
jects of the Queen stick close to town, and show no
disposition to try their luck at the diggings. Many
thousand Chinamen are ex peett d at. Victoria during
the spring, and it was reported that a 'essel from
Hong Kong direct is overdue,-having on board a
squad of five hundred of the mooneved fraternity.

Th• British still keep up a powerful fleet in the.ir
waters. There is an 80-gun ship of the line, carry-
ing an Admiral's Hari., and several others ware daily
expected from England—amongst them the Topaz,
one of the finest 50-gun screw frigates in the British
navy.

INDIAN CURRENCY.

(From the Times' City Article.)

The following letter on Mr. Wilson's Indian cur-
rency proposals corrects an impression that these
proposals are in harmony with the principles of the
Bank Charter Act. Not only dces Mr. Wilson, in
his recent Minute, unequivocally dispute the lead-
ing feature of that Act by asserting that a paper
currency based on Government securities, with a
reserve of one-third specie, must, to "whatever ex-
tent it may be carried," be identical with a currency
entirely metallic, but he is known to have been a
consistent opponent of the Act from the date of its
introduction by Sir Robert Peel down to the period
of his departure for India. Mr. Wilson must, there-
fore, have abandoned his former convictions, sup-
posing he had now put forth a scheme on a founda-
tion analogous with it. But this has not been the
case, his plan being perfectly consistent with the
views for which he has always contended. Sir
Charles Wood, the President of the Indian Council,
has, on the other hand, been uniformly a supporter
of Sir Robert Peel's system, and a majority of the
members of the present Government likewise pro-
fess a similar faith, 'although occasionally some pla-
titudes are heard which would seem to warrant a
different conclusion. The immediate result, how-
ever, has been that the Government, through Sir
Charles Wood, have intimated to Mr. Wilson that
the " sound principle" of the Bank Charter Act of
1844 must be held in view, and that all issues be-
yond a certain amount are to be represented by a
corresponding amount of bullion. There will, con-
sequently, be no danger either of inflation, or of the
anomaly of two conflicting principles of currency
being recognized respectively in London and Cal-
cutta :

" Sir,—ln some recent articles on Mr. Wilson's
scheme for a Government bank of issue it has been
remarked ' that the proportion of coin_ and seen-

cities to be held is talieti from our own Bank Char-
ter Act, and that the principle is identical with the
Act of 1844.'

"The principle of the Bank Charter Act is that a
fixed amount of securities shall be held by the issue
department, and that coin or bullion shall be held
against the remainder of the notes in circulation.
Mr. Wilson's proposal is, on the contrary, stated to
be that a portion never to be less than one-third of
the issue of notes is to be retained in coin, and
against the remainder of the issue Government se-
curities are to be purchased and held,' a proposal
which would seem to be based on a very different
principle from that of the Bank of England.
" If the circulation of the issue department of tho
Bank of England were reduced from 30 millions to
21 millions, the gold and silver in her vaults would
be reduced from £15,525.000 t• £6,525,000, and the
securities would remain at their fixed amount,
L 14,475,000.

"Mr. Wilson proposes that if the circulation of
the Bank of India should reach 300 millions of
rupees, there shall be held against this amount 200
millions of securities and 100 millions of silver. If

the circulation afterwards fell to 210 millions, the
drain of 90 millions would be met to the extent of
30 millions from the silver in the vaults of the bank,
and the remaining 60 millions by sales of Govern-
ment securities. The consequent pressure in the
money-market and the fluctuation in the value of
Government stock would forcibly illustrate the sci-
entific truth and practical wisdom of the principles
embodied in the Bank Charter Act. '

" Mr. Wilson has for many years been the perti-
nacious assailant of that act, on the ground that the
issuer of a convertible currency should be allowed
to judge for himself what amount of securities ho
might safely hold against his circulation. The falla-
cies or paralogisms into which he fell were gene-
rally attributed, by those who defended the Bank
Charter Act, to his confounding the functions of a
bank of issue and a bank of deposit. Few would
have believed that, if he were called upon to found
a bank of issue pur et simple, he.would not have re-
cognised that the true principle for its management
is to hold a fixed amount of securities, and allow
the issues in excess of that amount to expand and.
contract with the amount of coin and bullion, so
that the fluctuations of the currency might be the
same as if it were purely metallic.
" Mr. Wilson seems, however, to labour under

some strange misconception, not only of the prin-
ciples, but of the plain provisions of the act of 1844,
for he says that in the Issue Department a certain
proportion of bullion .is always held regulated by
law, and the balance of the issues over that amount
is represented by Government securities !'
"A run for gold is so much more likely to occur
in India than in this country, -where all classes have
implicit confidence in the solvency of the Bank and.
the stability of the Government, that it is still more
necessary that the proposed Bank should hold such
large reserves of silver as to be able to meet any
drain without having recourse to forced sales of
securities.—l am, sir, your obedient servant,

6l J. C:6