Extracts from the
Records of the India Office concerning Dehli
Letter from the
Long letter explaining that the Emperor
insisted on his stipend (58,000 Rs) being paid in
No mode of defeating this attempt [i.e.
by the shroffs to charge high batta] appeared to me so effectual as that of
increasing the local circulation of the Delhi rupees, by coining into that
specie the Bareilly rupees then in the treasury. I found however, that from the
inferior quality of this last specie and from the expense of coining and the
wastage of the Delhi mint, the measure would be attended with loss, and that
100 Bareilly rupees would only produce 94Rs 14ans. Of course, the idea was
abandoned.
From Charles Metcalf (Resident at
I have the honor to transmit a copy of a
letter from the First Assistant to this Residency applying for a percentage on
the collection of the mint of Dilhee in the same manner in which a percentage
is allowed in the customs of this territory.
The application is sufficiently
explained in Mr Frasers’ letter and does not appear to require any comment on
my part. If compliance or non-compliance would be supported to depend on any
estimation of the merits of the individual at present having charge of the
revenue office in this territory, I might venture to say that the zeal and
ability evinced by Mr Fraser on all occasions and especially the substantial
services which he has rendered in the revenue department of this territory,
recommend him strongly for the favour and approbation of the Right Honorable
the Governor General in Council.
To
Although the mint is under the
superintendence of the officer in charge of the Revenue Department and the
duties levied on it are similarly collected with the customs, the percentage
allowed on the net customs receipts are not granted on the receipt of the mint.
I request that you will be pleased,
should you not deem it improper, to solicit the sanction of Government for
deducting in favour of the officer in charge of the Revenue Department the same
percentage on the mint duties as allowed on those of customs.
From Government to Metcalf.
Ordered that the Resident at Delhi be informed that as the
orders under which Mr Fraser receives a commission on the revenues for customs
which may be collected cannot be considered applicable to the to the mint which
is immediately under the management of the Resident, the Right Honorable the
Governor General in Council cannot sanction the claim preferred by Mr Fraser.
See IOR P/162/69 pp115-118 for info
about sending a qualified person with the machinery to Dehli
Letter from C. J. Metcalf to the Mint
Committee at
The
machinery dispatched from
From C. J. Metcalf to the Mint Committee
at
Everything
being in readiness here for the coinage of the Farrukhabad rupee except only
dies, I take the liberty of requesting that you will order a supply of dies of
the Farrukhabad coinage to be sent to me by Dak Bangry or that you will
authorise me to have them cut here, which can be done though not so well. And
then, in either case, you will be pleased to cause orders to be issued for the
receipt in the Honble Company’s provinces of the Farrukhabad rupee coined at
My application for the dies proceeds
from the supposition that it is necessary or desirable that the coinage of
If in your judgement so exact a
similarity is not requisite, we can make the dies here with any impression and
the order for the currency of our coinage on a par with the Farrukhabad rupee
is all that will be wanted. But I am apprehensive that as
long as there is any perceptible distinction the money changers will
make it a pretence for causing a difference of price in the markets.
Letter from the Mint Committee to the
Mint Master (Saunders) dated
I am instructed by the Committee
superintending the affairs of the mint at this Presidency to request that you
will prepare and transmit by Dawk Bangry a supply of dies of the Farrukhabad
coinage to Mr. Metcalf, Resident at
From the Mint Committee to Government
dated 10th April 1818.
We have the honor to forward for the
information of Government the copy of a letter received from the Resident at
The orders of Government of the 7th
August 1813, leave us no choice that [but?] to comply with the request of the
Resident, and as there can be no doubt but that the dies for the proposed Delhi
coinage will be best made at Calcutta where indeed those for Farrukhabad and
Banaras have always been cut, we directed the Mint Master to prepare them with
the least possible delay.
Before however finally dispatching the
dies or preparing any order that may be necessary to give currency to the
Farrukhabad rupee coined at Delhi, we beg leave to suggest to the Government
the necessity of adopting some check over the standard weight and fineness of
these rupees, not merely for security in these important points with respect to
this coinage only, but for the protection of the Farrukhabad currency in
general, the whole of which will be liable for discredit from any deficiency in
the rupees in circulation, the coinage of which at Delhi or Farrukhabad it will
now be impossible to discriminate.
Letter from Government to
With reference to you letter of the 10th
April last, I am directed by the Honourable the Vice President in Council to
transmit for your information the accompanying copies of correspondence with
the Resident at
Letter from H. Middleton (Acting
Resident at Dehli) to
I consider it my duty to report to you
that there are several mint implements of apparently
excellent manufacture at present deposited in the go-downs of this mint which
will assuredly never be brought into any kind of use here.
The natives employed in the mint to coin
a few hundred rupees once a year to present to his Majesty on the anniversary
of his coronation do not even know the application or use of the articles to
which I allude, and it strikes me that much of the apparatus requisite to
complete the machinery is wanting.
The implements are lying rotting here to
no purpose. If sold on account of Government in this city they would fetch a
mere nothing and I should suppose the things might be very serviceable in some
of the regular mints.
Perhaps they might be sent with
advantage to
Letter from the Mint Committee to
Middleton (at Dehli),
I am directed by the Committee for
superintending the affairs of the mint at this Presidency to acknowledge
receipt of your letter bearing date the 17th ultimo and to request
the apparatus therein alluded to may be dispatched to the
Letter to
I am directed by the Vice President in
Council to transmit to you the accompanying copy of a letter and its
enclosures, from the Commissioner at Dehli, dated the 17th ultimo,
and to request that a communication of your sentiments as to the expediency of
establishing a copper coinage at Dehli, and generally as to the best mode of
meeting the difficulties stated to exist in regard to the copper currency of
that city.
To Government from C. Metcalf,
I have the honor to submit copies of
correspondence with the magistrate and Collector of Dehlee relating to an
alleged monopoly of copper coin by shuraffs and to a proposition for the
establishment of a mint at Dehlie for a copper coinage,
Letter from J. Wells (secretary to the
Commissioner of Delhee) from Metcalfe (Judge and Magistrate at Dehli), dated
I have the honor to report for the
information of the Commissioner that much inconvenience has of late been felt
by all classes of people in the city in consequence of the shroffs having
combined to purchase all the copper pice procurable, and refusing to sell them
excepting at a high rate fixed by themselves.
This combination is particularly
complained of by the executive officers in charge of public works and Captain
Smith informs me that at times he is not only unable to procure pice (the
shroffs refusing to sell at any rate) but that a description of pice formerly
received at an equal value has now been proscribed and declared by those
monopolists to be of an inferior value.
I take the liberty of soliciting through
you instructions from the Commissioner as to the propriety of my interfering to
induce the shroffs to sell at the former nerick.
Letter to Metcalfe from Wells dated
I am directed by the Commissioner to
acknowledge receipt of your letter of the 17th instant relative to
the monopoly of the Banyans of the city.
The Commissioner requests you to report
whether at any time there was any fixed nerikh for copper pice and, if so, on
what occasion it was first departed from. As far as his recollection extends
the nerikh of pice was always variable.
Letter from Metcalfe to Wells dated
In reply to your letter under date the
18th instant, I have the honor to state, for the information of the
Commissioner, that there never was a fixed nerick for copper pice, but I never
recalled it to have been so high as at present.
If it be deemed unadvisable to oblige
them to sell at a fairer price, they are bound, I think, to receive back pice
at the same rate at which they sell it, whereas now they refuse to take it back
unless a batta be paid.
Letter to Metcalfe from Wells dated
I am directed by the Commissioner to
acknowledge the receipt of your letter of the 21st ultimo relative
to the monopoly of pice by the banyans of the city and to inform you in reply
that he trusts the evil will cure itself without positive interference on the
part of the civil power.
Circular to Metcalfe from Sutherland
(Acting Secretary to the Commissioner) dated
The Commissioner requests you to report
on the feasibility of establishing a mint for copper coins at Dihlee and the
probable effect of such a measure in preventing the buying up and monopolizing
of [Tukkas?].
To Sutherland from Vaughan (Collector at
Dehli), dated
I have the honor to acknowledge the
receipt of your letter dated the 13th instant on the subject of
establishing a mint for copper coin at Dehli.
I have no doubt in my own mind that the
proposed measure would be productive of good to the people and serve to check,
in an effectual manner, the impositions now daily practiced by surraffs and
others not only by the ordinary process of monopoly you allude to, but by
taking advantage of the variety of the currency in point of place of coinage
and metallic weight, which being numerous, the poorest portion of our subjects
are placed at the mercy of the surraffs or brokers, whose sole source of
livelihood consists in the exaction of discount, often optional, almost always
exorbitant, the exchange of the silver medium into copper fluctuating from 42
pice to 55.
The institution of a mint for copper
coinage would be beneficial in my opinion.
1st because the quantity of
the currency and the time of its issue being optional, monopoly would cease
immediately that the maximum of the demand became once regulated by an adequate
issue of the coin.
2nd because the adjustment of
a standard mint arte of exchange would frustrate all fictitious ones.
3rd because the uniformity of
weight, the peculiarity of a Government mint issue, would soon depreciate the
base currency to its intrinsic metal value, lead to its speedy absorption by
the mint, and reissue in legal fashion as to the Presidency.
At present the copper currency seems to
derive its character, as such, from the intrinsic value of the commodity
itself, and the general confidence arising from the knowledge of that value
therefore is liable to variation in proportion to the quality of the commodity
and the credit of the day. A government mint currently affording security, in
point of weight and purity to the coin, and accompanied with the implied
declaration from authority of being received back at a fixed rate, would impart
an immutable value and credit to the circulation.
5th Because a Government mint
would prove a source of revenue to the state that at the same time conferred an
important benefit on the people, since metal may be converted into coin for
individuals at a less rate than could possibly be effected otherwise.
6th Because the experiment
here may lead to a general adoption of the principle all over the country and
secure proportionate good.
Letter to
In acknowledging the receipt of your
letter of the 23rd instant, the Commissioner requests that you will
have the goodness to furnish a plan for the formation of a mint for the copper
coinage.
From Metcalfe to Sutherland dated 25th
October 1826
In reply to your letter under date the
13th instant I have the honor to state that in my opinion the
establishment of the mint for copper coin would for the future prevent the
monopoly of pice by the shroffs of the city and I can foresee no difficulty in
establishing it since many of the persons formerly employed are now at Dehlee,
pensioners of Government on 2/3rds of their original salaries.
From
He sets out a plan for the mint
…My proposition is to adopt for
uniformity sake, and for facility of keeping accounts, the following plan,
which is nearly similar to that in practice at the Presidency
|
120 pice of 8 massas each
to be made out of each one seer of copper the value of which never exceeds |
|
|
Manufacture of this one
seer of copper into 120 pice |
0:1 |
|
Total expense |
|
Establishment
|
1 mint Darogah including
expense of stationary per mensum |
40: : |
|
1 Mohurrir |
16: : |
|
1 Chupprassy |
4: : |
|
20 artificers at
different rates of pay average each 6 rupees |
120: : |
|
Total monthly expense |
180: : |
|
The above establishment
per diem Rs6 being competent to coin per diem 2 maunds and 12 seers each at 1
anna per seer is equal to |
|
|
The excess of charge per
diem |
-:4 |
|
Will be amply defrayed by
the variation in the price of the metal which sometimes falls as low as 1
rupee 6 annas per seer |
|
At the above rate of coinage the annual
issue will amount to about 63,000 rupees which must be considerably below the
Dehlee demand. It will be easy however, after experience has ascertained the
quantity necessary to meet the public demand, to increase the establishment of
artificers to the requisite extent.
If the establishment of a mint be
sanctioned, it may be advisable to notify by proclamation that the Government
mint at Dehlee will receive and disburse copper coin at the fixed rate of 64
pice for a Kuldar rupee, whenever presented.
Letter from the Garrison Engineer to the
Acting Secretary to Government in the Territorial Department, dated
The letter explained why the cost of
building works was increasing.
Average price of exchange of pice at
Dehli
|
|
|
Pice |
Dumries |
Cowries |
|
1824 |
July |
50 |
|
15 |
|
|
August |
50 |
½ |
|
|
|
September |
50 |
1 |
|
|
|
October |
50 |
1 ½ |
|
|
|
November |
50 |
1 ½ |
4 |
|
|
December |
51 |
½ |
12 |
|
1825 |
January |
51 |
1 |
3 ½ |
|
|
February |
51 |
2 ½ |
12 |
|
|
March |
52 |
3 |
9 |
|
|
April |
53 |
3 |
2 |
|
|
May |
54 |
|
6 |
|
|
June |
54 |
½ |
11 |
|
|
July |
56 |
½ |
5 |
|
|
August |
56 |
2 |
4 |
|
|
September |
54 |
|
10 |
|
|
October |
52 |
2 ½ |
10 |
|
|
November |
53 |
3 ½ |
11 |
|
|
December |
55 |
3 |
9 |
|
1826 |
January |
55 |
3 |
|
|
|
February |
55 |
2 ½ |
2 |
|
|
March |
54 |
2 ½ |
12 |
|
|
April |
52 |
3 ½ |
4 |
|
|
May |
53 |
2 |
2 |
|
|
June |
51 |
2 ½ |
10 |
|
|
July |
48 |
|
4 |
|
|
August |
47 |
½ |
10 |
|
|
September |
45 |
3 ½ |
11 ½ |
|
|
October |
43 |
3 |
4 |
|
|
November |
45 |
|
1 |
|
|
December |
46 |
|
4 |
|
1827 |
January |
45 |
|
12 |
|
|
February |
44 |
1 |
10 |
|
|
March |
44 |
½ |
2 |
|
|
April |
44 |
1 |
|
|
|
May |
44 |
2 ½ |
1 |
|
|
June |
44 |
1 ½ |
1 ¼ |
Letter to
…The wages
of labor are paid in the Dihlee pice, a few of which are herewith transmitted.
Letter from the Resident at Dehli (Edw.
Colebrooke) to Government, dated
Long letter proposing to re-establish
the copper mint at Dehli.
…The abolition of the mint for copper
coinage at Dehlee was consequent on the abolition of the mint for Dehlee rupees
in 1818, which had in view the filling up the gap which would be thus
occasioned in the circulation of Dehlee rupees by a more extended circulation
of the new Farruckabad rupee coined at Farruckabad. But as the Dehlee mint for
coining copper pice is not once mentioned in the correspondence it does not
appear what means were then contemplated for filling up the additional
deficiency which would be occasioned in this branch of the circulation by the
abolition of its particular mint…
Letter to Government from the Mint
Committee, dated
…Under these circumstances we cannot
think it will be expedient to re-establish the mint at Dehlee…
Letter from the Resident and Chief
Commissioner at
Letters and enclosures stating that
there should be no problem with using the new copper coins in the
c1835.
Concerning presentation of nuzaars to
the King of Dehli