448 On the Standard Weights of England and India. [Oct* 



the coin of both countries has been coined 1 1 dwts. too fine, so that 

 in reality our Indian coin has been only f dwts. worse, or almost 

 equal to the English legal standard. Now, that the error has been 

 corrected at home, and has been brought to the notice of the proper 

 officers here, with a "view to the introduction of a similar correction, 

 would it not be far simpler to equalize the two standards at once by 

 raising our purity f dwt, instead of lowering it 1 £, and making it 

 differ from almost every coin on the globe ? The Spanish, the Portu- 

 guese, the Mexican, and the North American dollar ; the French franc, 

 the German and Swiss,(since the confederation,) and the Italian coins,all 

 contain T ' s alloy, and were it advisable to deviate from the English stand- 

 ard at all, it might be better to adopt that simple and almost universal 

 system : but now that England has determined to supply her colonies 

 with her own currency in silver coin, it may be perhaps better that 

 the rupee of her Indian possessions should conform thereto as nearly 

 as possible, — and if so, the present opportunity of equalizing the stand- 

 ard should not be allowed to pass by. There is another argument in 

 favor of the measure, namely, that the proposed improvement in qua- 

 lity is nearly balanced by the proposed reduction in weight of our 

 up-country rupee from 180.234 to 180.0 grains, so that there would 

 be no appreciable difference in commercial or revenue transac- 

 tions. 



It may be urged against the alterations suggested, that they will 

 render useless the splendid standard weights sent out to the several 

 mints of India, by the Honorable Court of Directors, for the express 

 purpose of adjusting the weights of the country : but such is not the 

 case, for these magnificent standards comprize complete sets of troy 

 weights, avoirdupois weights, and bazar weights, and it is the first 

 of these only which can be regarded as the true standard of com- 

 parison whereby the other two are to be verified. The Bazar weights 

 may by means of the troy standards be made to conform to the pro- 

 posed system with the greater facility, because there will be no frac- 

 tional discrepancies. 



We read some time since in the Government Gazette, a notice of 

 the verification of the standards alluded to, which was made by order 

 of the Court upon their arrival in India ; it gives a high idea of their 

 great exactitude, and of the superior excellence of the superb bal- 

 ances by which these results were obtained : they were sent out by 

 the Honorable Court in the year 1 829, and are deposited in the new 

 mint. Assuming the 1 lb. troy as unit, the errors of the following 

 weights were respectively : 



