302 PRICES 



actually averaged in practice, and very little is gained 

 by merging them into one provincial average upon 

 paper. The only way of obtaining an accurate im- 

 pression of the course of prices through the century 

 is to take as an example the prices at a particular 

 market. It will be found that the general character 

 of such price-curves is very much the same whatever 

 the market chosen, but for the earlier period the 

 details will vary very considerably at different cen- 

 tres. In order to show that the price-chart for 

 Bareilly is a fair illustration, I print a second chart, 

 showing the price of barley at two different centres 

 — Farukhabad and Agra. A glance is sufficient to 

 show that the character of the curves for these two 

 centres is much the same, and that both these curves 

 closely resemble the Bareilly curve. After 1861 prices 

 moved upon a higher level, with an upward ten- 

 dency. The curves of all other markets in the United 

 Provinces exhibit the same characteristic, and I think 

 it is impossible in the face of these figures any longer 

 to maintain that prices in the up-country markets 

 have not risen ; and if this fact is established, it cuts 

 away the ground upon which is usually based the 

 theory that silver in India has proved a more stable 

 measure of value than gold in other countries. 



This chart illustrates other features in the history 

 of prices. The first to which I wish to call attention 

 is the way in which before 1861 prices varied at two 

 markets so close to each other as Agra and Farukhabad. 

 The Farukhabad prices are, on the whole, somewhat 

 the lower of the two. The reason for this is explained 

 by Mr. H. F. Evans in the Settlement Report, from 

 which these prices have been collected. 'The prices 

 here given,' he says, ' are those ruling on the 18th of 

 each Baisakh, the Akhtij ka din — that is, the harvest 

 rate fixed when the nature of the year's crop has been 

 fully ascertained. It is generally somewhat below the 

 highest rate obtained throughout the year, but would 



