XI 



of silver in India has fallen during the last five hundred years to 

 one-seventh of what it was in the thirteenth century. I propose, very 

 briefly, to prove that this decline, at least in Orissa, instill going on, 

 that it has proceeded at a rapid rate during the present century, and 

 that at the present moment it continues unchecked. 



The period of anarchy which preceded our accession in Orissa in 

 1803 has left few memorials behind it. But I have brought together, 

 from the archives of the adjoining district of Ganjam, a series of 

 papers which illustrate the state of prices a hundred years ago. My 

 materials commence with the year 1778, and they show the average 

 price of unhusked rice, except in years of famine, to have been about 

 8rf. a hundredweight, and the price of husked rice l.s. 4|f/. ^'^ In 

 Orissa the cost was always about one-third less, and indeed Ganjam 

 imported a large portion of its rice-supply from Puri and Cuttack, 

 This would show the price of paddy in Orissa to have been under 6(L a 

 hundredweight ; and when we obtained the province in 1803, 6d. a 

 hundredweight was considered rather a high price. A shilling per 

 hundredweight is now reckoned a cheap rate for paddy bought on the 

 field at harvest time. In 1771 a bullock sold for 10s. which would 

 now cost at least 24s., and a sheep from Is. to Is. dd. whose present 

 price would be at least 4s. The w^hole evidence to be derived from the 

 official records shows that the average price of staple commodities 

 towards the end of the last century was less than one-half their present 

 rates. The wages of laborers bore the same proportion, and palan- 

 quin-bearers cost 4s. a month who now receive Ss. 



We have, however, another means of ascertaining the decline in 

 the purchasing power of silver. From time immemorial Orissa, like some 

 other parts of India, has used a local currency of couric. When the 

 province passed into our hands in 1803, the public accounts were kept 

 and the revenue was paid in these little shells. In granting liberal 

 leases to the landholders, however, we stipulated that they should 

 henceforth pay their land-tax in silver, and fixed the rate of exchange 

 at 5,120 cowries to the rupee. For many years after our accession 

 the proprietors bitterly complained j;hat the rupee was worth much 

 more than this rate, and that, in order to make up their revenue in 

 silver, they had to pay the village banker from 6,400 to 7,680 cowries 

 per rupee. This was alleged as one of the causes of the Khurdhd 

 rebellion in 1817 ; and although the hardships may have been exagge- 

 rated, the common rate seems to have been from 6,000 to 7,000 couries 

 per rupee. But during the last seventy years the value of silver has 

 steadily declined, and a rupee now only purchases 3,584 of these little 



3*8 In 1778 the price of paddy in Granjam varied from 7d. to 7^d. per cwt. ; 



,, 1779 7rf. to l^d. ; 



,, 1780 l^d.toS^d. ; 



,, 1781 (a year of scarcity) it rose to . . . . S^d. : 



„ 1782 ".. .. Hd.; 



,, 1783 from 9J(^. to Qfo'. ; 



,, 1784 (a year of famine) it sold at the almost nominal rate of ll(f. ; 



,, 1785 it fell to Sd. ; 



,, 1786 8^(1. : 



,, 1787 8^d. to 9f^/. After that year 



followed a series of famines and disturbances, which completely disorganized prices, and 

 for a time put a ijtop to importations. The years from 1789 to 1792 are still spoken of as 

 the period of the first Ganjam famine under our rule. 



