The Indian Wheat Trade. 
69 
diture on the wheat up to the time of the saiUng of the vessel 
in which it is shipped, including the cost of bags. Mr. Klopp 
has given the present cost of bags and other expenses incurred 
in India, making the cost of wheat free on board at Calcutta 
more than 1|- rupee per quarter above the bazaar price. There 
is, therefore, fully 9d. to add to the 8s. above reckoned as the 
saving effected through the fall in the value of the rupee. 
Of course, no one will contend that the shipper could give the 
rupee price he now pays to sell at the current price in England 
without the saving due to exchange, and the only question is 
whether he would be able to buy wheat at a price sufficiently low 
to enable him to keep up the trade. If he could not give more 
than 12 rupees per quarter in Calcutta, the price in the local 
markets, as a rule, would not exceed 7 rupees, and it has been 
shown that 1 1 rupees per quarter, in a local market, is the lowest 
price at which it is supposed that the ryot gets a fair profit on 
the wheat he produces. That 7 rupees per quarter would be a 
ruinous price to the ryot under existing conditions, there is 
little room to doubt. It has been shown that, with prices as 
they have been lately, the wheat area in India has not gi-eatly 
increased. Surely, then, it is a fair inference to conclude that 
it would speedily be reduced if the price fell to the extent above 
supposed. 
Upon this question of the effect of the fall in the gold value 
of the rupee upon the export of Indian wheat, I have consulted 
representatives of several of the largest firms of shippers, in- 
cluding Messrs. Ealli, Messrs. Kelly & Co., Messrs. Tod, Durant 
& Co., and others who did not give me pei'mission to use their 
names. Without exception, they declare it to be stimulating 
beyond all question. Indeed, they all declare that the effect is 
equivalent to a bonus upon export, and that they could not 
possibly buy at current Indian prices and sell at English prices 
without the margin obtained through exchange. Mr. W. J. 
Harris, who is opposed to any interference with the cui-rency as 
far as India is concerned, lest Russia should profit at the expense 
of our great dependency, has publicly, as well as privately to 
me, pronounced the same opinion. Even Mr. W. Fowler, one 
of the strongest of Monometallists, declared at a recent meeting 
of the Central Chamber of Agi-iculture that the fall in exchange 
was in effect a bonus on the shipment of Indian wheat. Indeed, 
he used the term " bounty," though the word is open to mis- 
conception, and I prefer not to use it. At this meeting of the 
Central Chamber, I may add, not a single person ventured to 
deny the conclusion upon which evidence is now being given. 
Mr. J. A. Parker, formerly editor of the " Indian Daily News," 
writing upon this point, says : " I am clearly of opinioji that 
