22 On Indian Weights and Measures. [No. 9, new sekies. 



general introduction of the change. It becomes therefore a point 

 of extraordinary importance that in the proposed change every- 

 thing, as far as possible, should run consonant with Native notions 

 of weights and measures. Any intelligent Native will tell you a 

 seer weight is 80 tolas, but perhaps not 2 in 20 would agree as to 

 the exact number of grains that made a tola. But setting aside 

 this consideration for the present the chief objection to a seer of 

 77f tolas is, as Mr. Bayley himself says, that it does not admit of 

 subdivision, you cannot well halve it, and any other sub-multiple 

 is proportionately more intricate and fractional. Besides this as 

 regards the opportunity of easily testing the seer we scarcely think 

 a | of a Rupee can be considered "just as much a coin of defined 

 weight as the whole rupee." It is so at present when it leaves 

 the Mint, although it has been recommended, and supported by the 

 Government, that the smaller coins should be issued in the form of 

 tokens at a fictitious value and weighed in the gross. The two 

 anna pieces are now no longer adjusted individually. But, at any 

 rate, by reason of the thinness of the metal the £ Rupee can never 

 receive so bold an impression as the Rupee, in consequence of 

 which and the greater circulation it undergoes it wears faster and 

 lasts a shorter time than the Rupee and {a fortiori) is not so con- 

 venient a standard. 



Moreover, Mr. Bayley's seer of 77f tolas does not conform ex- 

 actly to English Avoirdupois. It would be 5 grains short, he 

 says, (p. 193) of 21bs., but nevertheless he would have it defined 

 legally equal to 21bs. 5 grains is a very small difference, but 

 whether in practice it would be found immaterial we are not pre- 

 pared to say. The best Mercantile Firms dispute over the 1-1 6th 

 and l-20th of a penny in the exchange with England. In such 

 transactions it would be difficult to draw a line and say what 

 fractional difference ceases to be of importance. The following 

 plan, of Mr. Bayley, of keeping the present tables with the 

 same denominations and relative magnitudes but reducing the 

 Rupee, the standard unit, to 175 grains (retaining the same 

 amount of pure silver 165 grains) appears to us the easiest of 

 introduction and the most practicable. By it two objects would 

 be gained. 



