JULY — SEPT. 1857.] 



for India* 



191 



Mr. Prinsep, in his " Useful Tables" gives a list of some 300 

 Rupees of Native Mints, mostly of dates prior to any regular coin- 

 age of the Indian Government. They average about 175 grains; 

 and had the Government adopted 175 grains instead of 180 for the 

 rupee, a " Seer" of 80 rupees would have been exactly 2lbs. avoir- 

 dupois ; and a " Mun" of 40 seers, exactly 801bs. avoirdupois, and 

 25 Muns exactly 2,0001bs., or the proposed new Ton for Great Bri- 

 tain. The rupee of 180 grains is now so well established in all the 

 Presidencies, and there is such an enormous silver circulation in 

 India, that it seems impracticable to reduce the Rupee to 175 grains ; 

 and if the same content of pure silver were retained, (which would 

 be necessary for the credit of the State) the " touch" would be 

 raised from i-i or -91666, to -942, which may be deemed too high 

 for durability. The touch of silver in France (where, as in India, 

 it is the legal standard of value) is -900. In England it is *925. 



Another objection may be made to the above Ponderary sys- 

 tem, namely, that the multiples are not decimal ; but the main 

 advantage of this system, is the comparative facility with which it 

 might be introduced, and this advantage would be lost if the usual 

 multiples were departed from. The only improvement that might 

 be effected without materially interfering with the reception of the 

 system, would be to subdivide the " seer" into 80ths, or single 

 rupees, instead of into 16ths, or chittacks. The division by 80 

 would be simpler than by 16 ; the commercial minimum weight of 

 account would be 180 grains, instead of 900 as at present, and the 

 " quarter chittacks" would be unnecessary. The lowest denomina- 

 tion of Avoirdupois weight in England, is the " dram," or 27'344 

 grains ; but this the Parliamentary Committee of 1841 state " does 

 not appear to be used at all." The J ounce, or 109f grains, is the 

 lowest weight in general use. 



The next plan for a system of Weights, that may be no- 

 ticed, is that in which the " tola" of 180 grains, (being the weight 

 of the Rupee) is the unit, and its multiples Weights of 10, 100, 

 and 1000 tolas. It is hardly necessary to urge that such a deci- 

 mal arrangement, however desirable for its intrinsic merit, would 

 be unacceptable both to the Native and the European community. 



