The Meeker herald., 1893-07-01
ANOTHER BLOW TO SILVER.
The Free Coinage OF silver in Iniia sus-
pended and Bullion Drops
n Cent?.

In the House OF Lords on the 2Gth the Earl
of Kimberly. lord president OF the ccunci!
and secretary of state for India, stated that
the India council had passrd an act for The
Immediate closing Of the lBdia minis to r. e
coinage OF silver. He added that arrange
ments are being made 10 Issue rupees from
the mints in exchange for gold at the rate oil
sixteen pence per rupee and for reeeiv,ns
soyereisns and haif-soyereisns at the treas
rries In payment OF due, at the same ra;e-
The Earl of Kimberly further said that it Il
intended to introduce the gold standard in
India, but that gold IN the meantime woald
not be made legal tender.
Ia the House OF Commons, Mr.. Gladstone
gave Information similar to that given In the
House Of Lords by the Earl OF Kimberly He
added that gold would not be made legal
lender at prcsent. Regarding the silver noN
on the way to India, Mr. Gladstone SAID 'ha,
the government of India had been instructed
that 1t was open to it To admit this sil,er to
the mints II 1t thought 1T
The correspondence between the govern
ment Of India and the Indian Office has be n
issued. 1t opens with letter from The
India council under date of March. isJ!
urging the home government to aid In The
settlement of the silver question by an Inter
national agreement. falling which, not to de-
fer Determining upon IN India policy. II an
International agreement should not be obtain
ed, the United State might suddenly STOP
the coinage of silver, rlsfF- lnt>- unpre'
pared.
The communications discuss the fall in the
rupee values and the fluctuations IN the rate'
Of exchange.
The council in a letter written In JGne
1872, advises that If the International munc
tary conference at Brussels fails. and 4 dl
rect agreement between India and the United
states cannot be obtained, the mlut- OF Iudi'
be closed 10 the free eoiunse of silver and Z
gold standard be introduced.
In minute, Mr. Barbour, financial sccrc
tary Of India, opposed the stoppagc OF HI
free coluage until it becomes evident that Ih'
the United States viii not adopt free coinage
Mr. Barnam estimates that the total aciiH'
circulation In India amounts to ! l-lj0OJj'Os
rupees, while much larger proportion
boarded. To establish a gold eurrcEcy, viii
:. fun legal tender currency composed en-
tTrely Of gold, it would be ucee,,ary to with
draw from circulation ll5o.U0o00O rupees
replacing them by EssO01,CO0 gold. ~
.
[ Ia India, a large pfoportlan Of the elrcuiat ol
must continue in silver With silver a lcra
I teudcr to any amount. II 10th metals b
maintained In circulation, = gold Coiuag
/ To the total amount of Rl5ooO,oO0 will suf
/ hce
MIR. Long, 10 minute to tho council Ii
I August. ls92 discusses tho adoption of tb
| gold standard, and conclude, by the .us
ceston that the ratio Of conversion be abou
] To 20.
/ In a sub.equeat telegram from the Earl o
Kimberly to the ylceroy OF India dated Jan
:, lsg3. the former announce. the recommcf
dntlons Of the Hcrzebel commission a. ad0pir
hy the council al Slmla to-day. In advl-iH
the Indian government TO exchange gold a
the rate Of iGd TO The rupee, the eomlnissio
says that tho object I, to guard agalu-, sud
den considerable rise In exchange. ilerynitc
the ratio ought to be raised Il circumstance
make IL adyisnbl"
A. a result Of the action Of the Indian GOV
crnmcnt silver certificate, have dropped I
New York TO a. ,thc commercial bar silve
to re, and Mexican dollars to 90.