JULY — SEPT. 1857.] 
for India. 
187 
An arrangement on the Tola tmit will first be considered. 
Though the larger Weights throughout India are utterly devoid 
(in practice) of rule or uniformity, being generally misshapen 
lumps of metal, or stones, and varying in value as well as de- 
nomination in every district almost,'^ there has from time imme- 
morial been a small weight called a tola, in use by Goldsmiths and 
•Jewellers, which has maintained a ponderary value of about 182 or 
184 grains. "When the Government of India, by Act VII. of 1833, 
(the main purport of which ^as to fix the weight of the Furrucka- 
bad rupee at 180 grains)f decided on 180 grains as the tola, they 
in the same Ac eclared that this tola should be " the unit of a 
" general system of Weights in all Government transactions.^* 
The " Table" of Weights adopted by the Government of India 
for the use of their own offices, is in accordance with Native usage 
in Bengal, and was approved of by the Chambers of Commerce in 
Calcutta and Bombay. It is as follows : 
1 Tola = 180 Grains. 
5 Tolas =r= 1 Chittak. 
16 Chittaks = 1 Seer = 80 Tolas = 2'057l43 lbs. avoir. 
40 Seers = 1 Mun = (or maund) = 82 *lbs. exactly. 
* The traditionary and acknowledged unit of Weight is generally the Rupee ; 
thus the " Seer" is said to be so many Rupees weight ; but it is very seldom pos- 
sible to say what was the weight of the Rupee forming the original unit. The 
Rupees of the different Native Governments varied considerably, and even under 
the British rule the Sicca Rupee of Bengal was 192 grains, when the Arcot Rupee 
of Madras was 176^, These differences in the small unit would effect the larger 
ones considerably, and aggravate the uncertainty as to what was their original 
and leal value. Besides this, terms of the same denomination do not by any 
means denote the same value. A Candy, (Khundee) for instance, in one place 
differs very much from the Candy of another place. Again, a Candy (for in- 
stance) of Metal, is not the same as a Candy of Tobacco ; and there is a different 
Candy for Cotton and Sugar. The Candy used in buying, is not always the same 
in the same place, as the Candy used in selling. 
t The Furruckabad rupee used in the N. W. Provinces, had l^therto been 
180'234 grains. The Rupee of Madras and Bombay had been for some years 180 
grains. The " Sicca" Rupee of Bengal still remained at 192 grains, but this coin- 
age was discontinued in consequence of Act XVII. of 1835, and since that date 
the Company's Rupee of 180 grains has been the only Rupee coined at any of the 
Government Mints. 
I 
