68 
The Indian Wheat Trade. 
the fall in exchange had not been beneficial to India. But in 
1886, for certain dates of which prices are available, there was 
a considerable rise in prices. For instance, in January 1886, 
the price of No. 1 Soft White in Bombay was 27rs. 8a. per 
kandy of 756 lbs., as compared with 22rs. 8a. in January 
1881 ; and in 1887 the average value of all the wheat exported 
from India was nearly half a rupee per cwt. higher than in 
1886. As nearly as I can make out from the details available, 
the saving in the cost of wheat to shippers through fall in 
exchange between 1881 and 1886 was from 3s. to 5s. a quarter, 
according to quality and to the period of the year at which the 
purchase took place. 
But in order to show the full effect of the fall in the gold value 
of the rupee, we must go back much farther than 1881. In 
1871—72 the average exchange value of the rupee, as given 
in the official account of tlie drawings of the Secretary of State 
for India, was Is. ll'12c?., whereas recently it has been under 
Is. bd. We shall be on the safe side, then, in taking its 
fall at 6d., or over 25 per cent. Now, according to a despatch 
from the Government of India, the price of No. 2 Club wheat 
in Calcutta in 1872 averaged only 2rs. 3a. Ip. per maund, 
whei'eas it has for some time past been over 2rs. 10a.; but as 
the price was exceptionally low in 1872, and to simplify the 
argument, we will take 16 rs. per quarter (6 maunds) as tlie 
price for both periods, and reckon the exchange value of the 
rupee at Is. llfi!. for 1872, and Is. 5d. for 1888. At the price 
named, with the rupee at Is. lid., the cost of a quarter of 
wheat was 30s. 8d., whereas now, with exchange at Is. 5d., 
the cost is 22s. 8d. Here there is a fall of 8s. through differ- 
ence in exchange, while the Indian dealer, and presumably the 
grower, gets as much as in the earlier year for his wheat. 
At the time of writing it is only just possible to give 16 
rupees (costing 22s. 8d.) for a quarter of No. 2 Club wheat 
in Calcutta to sell at market price in England, and it follows 
that if the rate of exchange were now Is. 1 Idl., as it was in 
1872, the shipper could not give more than 12 rupees per 
quarter in Calcutta at the outside, as the cost would then be 
23s. Thus the bonus or margin (or whatever least offensive 
term may be preferred) caused by the fall in exchange since 
1872 is fully 4 rupees per quarter on wheat at the price lately 
current. If wheat of a higher price, such as No. 1 Soft White, 
in Bombay, had been taken as the example, the saving through 
fall in exchange would have come out at fully 10s. a quarter; 
but it is desirable to avoid all extreme examples, and a saviug 
of 8s. is sufficiently striking. In reality tlie effect of the fall in 
exchange has been under-stated, because it affects all expeu- 
