Letter from the Acting Agent to the
Governor General to Government, dated
In consideration of the necessity of
instituting an inquiry into the mode in which the mint at Farrukhabad is at
present conducted, and that some arrangement should be made for the future
regulation of it and for the correction of any abuses which may exist.
I beg leave to submit for the
consideration of his Excellency the Most Noble the Governor General, the
expediency of nominating a committee to consist of the Judge and Magistrate and
the Agent to the Governor General for the time being of this district for this
purpose and that the mint should be hereafter under their joint management and
control.
His Excellency in Council approves the
suggestion of the Acting Agent for nominating a committee to superintend the
regulation of the mint at Farrukhabad and directs that the Judge and Magistrate
of the zillah, and the Agent to the Governor General for the time being, be
nominated for the purpose, and that they be desired jointly to report to
Government upon the arrangements which they may deem necessary for the future
regulations of the mint.
Ordered that the necessary communication
to the Judge and Magistrate of Farrukhabad be made from the judicial department
and Acting Agent to the Governor General at Farrukhabad.
Letter from the Mint Committee at
Farrukhabad to Government, dated
The
ruinous state of the mint house at Farrukhabad requiring at this season some
immediate repairs, we beg leave to request the sanction of his Excellency the
most Noble the Governor General in Council to carry the amount of repairs Viz.
485.10.. Furr. Rupees to the debit of Government under the head of mint
charges.
This was authorised but the Mint
Committee was told not to incur further charges without first getting approval.
His Excellency the most Noble the
Governor General in Council having been pleased to require the Mint Committee
at the Presidency to submit to his Excellency in Council their sentiments with
regard to the expediency of establishing a coinage of the same weight and
standard throughout the provinces ceded to the Honble Company by his Excellency
the Nawaub Visier, I am directed by his Excellency in Council to acquaint you
that you are to correspond with that committee relative to the coinage in the
Ceded Provinces, and that you are to furnish them with whatever information
they may call upon you for, connected with this important subject.
His Excellency in Council being desirous
of being furnished with a statement of the coinage in the mint at Farrukhabad
since the cession of that district to the Honble Company, I am directed to
desire that you will submit to His Excellency in Council the following accounts
as early as possible.
An account of the money coined from the
date of cession of Farrukhabad to the expiration of the year 1802, exhibiting
the quantity of bullion and of the different descriptions of specie brought to
the mint for coinage, the number of rupees coined and of what description, and
the charges of coinage to Government and the individual.
An account containing the particulars
above mentioned from the commencement of the present year to the end of
September.
I am further directed to desire that you
will transmit to the Governor General in Council a monthly account of the above
nature from the first of the present month forwarding the same as early as
shall be practicable after the expiration of each month.
The
Governor General in Council having reason to believe that the introduction of a
copper coinage in the ceded provinces would be productive of great general
utility without being attended by expense to Government, I am directed to
desire that you will report to his Excellency in Council your sentiments with
regard to the expediency of establishing a coinage of the above description at
the mint under their charge.
In the event of the measure being deemed
advisable, it appears to his Excellency in Council that, in determining the
weight and standard of the coin to be struck, it would be expedient to adhere
to the weight and standard of the existing copper currency in the Ceded
Provinces and to regulate the delivery of the new coinage from the mint
according to the average relative value which copper coin has hitherto borne in
those provinces in exchange for silver. Should you, however, be of opinion that
the copper specie now in circulation is so much debased as to render it
expedient to increase its intrinsic value, you are to state your sentiments
with regard to the proportion which the new coinage should bear to pure copper.
Number rupees coined at Farrukhabad:
From date of cession to end 1802 =
557,670
From
October 1803 = 50154
November 1803 = 104,189
December 1803 = 175100
January 1804 = 135,467
February 1804 = 318,087
March 1804 = 151,120
Letter from Mint Committee at
Farrukhabad (Grant and Russell) to Government, dated
No Farrukhabad rupees coined in April
1804 = 524,582.
Letter from the Mint Committee at
Farrukhabad to Government, dated
Number of Farrukhabad rupees coined in
May 1804 = 262,894
Number Farrukhabad rupees coined in June
1804 = 97,339
Number Farrukhabad rupees coined in July
1804 = 180,309
Number Farrukhabad rupees coined in
August 1804 = 112,976
Number Farrukhabad rupees coined in
September 1804 = 152,503
Number of Farrukhabad rupees coined in
October 1804 = 194,812
Number of Farrukhabad rupees coined in
November 1804 = 243,513
Letter from the Farrukhabad Mint
Committee (Ferguson & Lloyd) to Government, dated
We take the liberty of requesting you
will do us the honor of submitting to the notice of His Excellency the Most
Noble the Governor General in Council our suggestion of introducing into the
Farrukhabad Mint the coinage in lieu of milled money.
We presume that the objections, which
formerly existed to the manufacture of the latter species at the Presidency,
are also applicable to the coinage of it at this mint, and that the
substitution of the mill would be attended with equally important and beneficial
consequences both to Government and to the public.
Letter from the Farrukhabad Mint
Committee to Government dated
We have the honor under this date of
recommending to the attention of His Excellency the Most Noble the Governor
General in Council the coinage of milled money, in place of hammer monay, in
the mint of Farrukhabad, as a measure tending to correct several existing
imperfections and abuses.
The defective state of the manufacture
can however be now greatly retrieved by the application of better instruments
than those in present use, for altho the introduction of the mill may
ultimately be adopted, some previous instructions and practices will still be
necessary.
We shall state, therefore, one
particular imperfection and then allude to such European instruments as we
believe could be substituted for those now used, and shall embrace the occasion
of offering some further remarks with a view to the improvement of the
Farrukhabad mint.
The defect in question is found under
the head of multa in every monthly account, and arises from the partial
impression of the two figures on the planchet, or piece of metal, and from the
planchet being thrown out of its horizontal position when struck by the hammer,
causing dents and scratches (multa) on the surface of the image. The allowance
for multa not only reduces the amount of public tax (no duty being levied on
one tenth of the bullion, on account of this blemish), but also affords an
opening to shroffs to reject the defaced rupee or receive it below its
intrinsic value, to the great embarrassment of merchants, and loss and vexation
to individuals.
We presume this defect can be remedied
by the superior kind of steel masses and dyes, and we conclude they can be made
far more perfect in
Having now pointed out a defect
removable by substituting superior implements without a deviation from the
principle of the present construction, we proceed to state that great
inconvenience arises from the present tedious process of coining, and the use
of numerous instruments. This inconvenience we imagine could be obviated by the
introduction of modern implements. We therefore further request to be furnished
with such as are used at the Presidency mint, and which we conclude are
manufactured after the European model, namely 1st a mold for casting
the plates of metal, 2nd a laminating engine and rollers for giving
the plate its uniform and exact thickness, and 3rd a steel trepan to
shape and cut off the planchet at one and the same time.
The use of these machines is evidently
separated from the subsequent process of impressing the edges of the coins, as
also from the mill engine, being only designed to form the planchet. We are
consequently induced to hope that our application for these or other
instruments intended for the same purpose will be honored with an early
compliance.
They then went to state that the
Farrukhabad rupee had the most general currency in the Doab and that it should
be considered as the coin given universal circulation in the Doab, particularly
as its standard meant that it was unlikely to be exported.
They asked that rules and regulations
for the conduct of the mint should be sent from
They stated that they would submit their
views on a new copper coinage in due course but, meanwhile, asked Government to
acquaint them with the principles on which the copper coinage at the Presidency
had been founded.
Production of the Farrukhabad gold
coinage had been suspended for a number of years, but tey did not feel
confident to judge whether it should be revived.
They enclosed 5 rupees as specimens of
the current coinage.
All this was referred to the Mint
Committee at
Letter from the Farrukhabad Mint
Committee (Rd Ahmuty & Charles Lloyd) to Government, dated
Reply to the question of introducing a
new copper currency. A suggestion had arisen that any captured guns not in use,
might be melted and used as a source of copper.
Letter from the Mint Committee to the
Commander in Chief, dated
Asked if they can have two small guns
from a local fort to try melting them for copper.
From the Mint Committee to Government,
dated
Number Farrukhabad rupees struck in
February 1805 = 408,728
Letter from the Mint Committee at
Concerning the establishment of a
uniform coinage for the Doab. They recommended that the Farrukhabad rupee
should be adopted and issued from a mint at Farrukhabad. This was recommended
because of its ‘centrical’ situation and because of its extensive commercial
concerns. Since most of the output of the mint would be payable to the
military, the Committee recommended that the mint should be cited in the
vicinity of the principal military station.
They also recommended that the coinage
then produced at
Letter from Government to Farrukhabad
Mint Committee (Richard Ahmuty, Magistrate, and Charles Lloyd, Acting Agent to
the Governor General) , dated
I am directed by His Excellency the Most
Noble the Governor General in Council to acquaint you that His Excellency in
Council has determined on the immediate introduction of a new silver and copper
currency, of an uniform weight and standard, into the provinces ceded by the
Nawaub Vizier to the English East India Company, and into the conquered
provinces in the Doab and on the right bank of the river Jumna, including the
zillah of Bundlecund, to be denominated the Lucknow sicca rupee of the 45th
sun, struck at Farrukhabad, corresponding in weight and standard with the rupee
at present struck at Lucknow, in the dominions of the Nawaub Vizier, and thence
denominated the Lucknow rupee, and to select the town of Farrukhabad to be the
place at which a mint shall be established for striking the new silver and
copper coin to be established in the said provinces.
I am further directed to acquaint you
that His Excellency in Council has been pleased to appoint the Judge and
Magistrate of zillah Farrukhabad for the time being, and the Agent or Acting
Agent to the Governor General at Farrukhabad for the time being, to be a
committee for the superintendence of the business of the mint at that station,
and to appoint Mr Robert Blake to the joint offices of Mint and Assay master
for the immediate conduct of the business of the mint at Farrukhabad, subject
to the authority of the Mint Committee, above mentioned.
You will herewith receive for your
information a copy of the instructions which have been this day transmitted to
Mr Blake, in order that you may conform to the exigency of such parts thereof
that relate to the Mint Committee of which you have been appointed the
immediate members. I am at the same time directed to inform you that the
operation of the mint at Farrukhabad is to be continued, in the coinage of the
silver specie hitherto struck at that mint until the promulgation of the
regulation, which will be immediately published, for the reform of the silver
and copper coinage in the Ceded Provinces.
His Excellency in Council understands
that the present mint at Farrukhabad is situated within the limits of that
town. In calling upon you for your report respecting the place at which you
would propose that the mint should be permanently established, His Excellency
in Council directs me to acquaint you that it appears to him to be advisable,
on many considerations, to select the town of
In the event of your not being aware of
any other alternative, you will submit to His Excellency in Council, your
sentiments respecting the construction of a suitable building for the operation
of the mint, accompanied by a plan and description of the building proposed to
be constructed and an estimate of the expense.
In recommending a building for the above purpose, you will be guided in
determining its situation by a due regard to the convenience of the bankers,
and others, who will have occasion to bring bullion or old coin to the mint for
coinage, and to the security of the property deposited therein. In the meantime
the business of the mint may continue to be conducted in the building in which
it is at present held.
I am directed to acquaint you that
whatever arrangement may be proposed regarding the provision of a suitable
building for a mint at Farrukhabad, His Excellency in Council is not aware of
the necessity of constructing an expensive building for that purpose. His
Excellency in Council accordingly expects that you will regulate whatever
propositions you may have to submit on the foregoing subject by a due reference
to the purposes for which the building is required, and by a proper regard to
economy informing an estimate of the expense.
Letter to R. Blake from Government dated
His Excellency the Most Noble the
Governor General in Council, having determined on the immediate introduction of
a new silver and copper coinage into the provinces ceded by the Nawaub Vizier
to the English East India Company, and into the conquered provinces in the Doab
and on the right bank of the river Jumna, including the zillah of Bundlecund,
and to select the town of Farrukhabad to be the place at which the mint for the
coinage of the new silver and copper currency in the above mentioned provinces
shall be established, I am directed to acquaint you that His Excellency in
Council has been this day pleased to appoint you to the joint offices of Mint
and Assay Master at Farrukhabad for the immediate conduct of the business of
the mint at that station.
I am further directed to desire that you
will proceed to Farrukhabad as early as may be practicable, after having
furnished the Mint Committee at Bareilly with the information which that
Committee has been instructed to require from you on various points immediately
connected with the subject of the new silver and copper coinage about to be
established in the Ceded and Conquered Provinces.
On your arrival at Farrukhabad you will
place yourself under the orders of the Mint Committee at that station. You will
at the same time make sure such preparations as you may judge necessary
(subject to the approbation of the Mint Committee at that station) with a view
of commencing the new coinage, to a sufficient extent for the demand for the
same, immediately on arrival at Farrukhabad of the dies and machinery which
will be sent to you from the Presidency.
You will be apprized by the Mint
Committee at
You are desired to submit to the
Governor General in Council, accompanied by the sentiments of the Mint
Committee at Farrukhabad thereon, a detailed statement of the establishment of
native officers which you may consider to be indispensably necessary to enable
you to conduct the duties of the mint at Farrukhabad, specifying the monthly
salary which you would propose to be granted to each officer. The establishment
must be adequate to the coinage of thirty thousand rupees per diem. It not
being the intention of Government to issue copper coin on their own account,
but to leave it to the option of individuals to bring copper and old copper
coin to the mint for coinage, it is not expected that the demand for the new
copper coin will be so considerable as to interfere materially with the silver
coinage. It therefore appears to His Excellency in Council that a very
inconsiderable addition will be necessary, to the establishment for the silver
coinage, for the purpose of conducting the business of the copper coinage, to
be reduced or increased as circumstances may render expedient.
I am also directed to acquaint you that
the Calcutta Mint Master has been instructed to send a sufficient number of
skilful workmen with the machinery to be provided from hence, for the purpose
of instructing the workmen in the mint at Farrukhabad in the use of the same.
No. 16. Letter to the Mint Master at
Farrukhabad had been selected as the
place for a mint to provide the new coinage for the Ceded and
The Lucknow sicca rupee of the 45th
sun is to be of a circular form, and one inch in diameter, and is to bear the
same impression as the nineteenth sun sicca struck in the Calcutta mint, with
an exception to the sun, or year of the reign of the present King Shah Alam,
and to the name of the place at which the coin is struck. The new coin is to
bear the 45th sun and the words ‘zurb Farrukhabad’ are to be
substituted for the words ‘zurb Moorshedabad’. The edges of the new silver coin
are to be milled, and the dies are to be of the same size as the coin so that
the whole of the impression shall appear upon the surface of it.
In preparing the dies for the new silver
coinage in the Ceded and
…The Governor General in Council
understanding that machinery, which you have been instructed to prepare for the
mint which the Government have it in contemplation to establish at Fort St
George, is completed. I am instructed to desire that you will appropriate as
much of that machinery as may be necessary to the use of the mint at
Farrukhabad…
I am further directed to acquaint you
that the Governor General in Council has determined on the introduction of a
new copper coinage in the Conquered and Ceded Provinces, to be also struck in
the mint at Farrukhabad, consisting of pure copper, and corresponding in form,
size and impression with those prescribed for the new silver coinage intended
to be immediately established in the said provinces. The pie is to be of the
same size as the rupee and the half pie of the same size as the half rupee,
increasing in thickness in proportion to the difference in weight between
silver and copper coin. It is not intended that smaller copper coin shall be
struck than a half pie. In preparing specimens of the new copper coin you will
regulate the weight of each pie at 290 grains troy weight. It is necessary to
add that the edges of the new copper coin are not to be milled, or to have any
mark or impression thereon…
Copper coins were only to be produced in
response to people bringing copper to the mint.
…You are desired to replace the
machinery to be sent to Farrukhabad, and originally intended for the use of the
mint at Fort St George, with all practicable expedition.
Letter from the Calcutta Mint Master to
Government, dated
He advised that collar dies should be
used at Farrukhabad with the laminating and cutting machinery, and as these had
already been prepared for Fort St George, they could quickly be dispatched. He
suggested that members of the Mint Committee should go to the mint for a
demonstration.
As far as the copper coins went, it
would not be possible to make circular coins without the use of a cutting
machine.
However, the Governor General did not
consider it necessary to introduce the laminating and cutting machinery. He
believed that copper coins could be made sufficiently round with the use of a
hammer and, if not, the coins could be struck at
Mr Blake’s allowance was to be a
commission based on the coinage at Farrukhabad, but in the meantime he was
permitted to draw Rs 1500 per month as salary.
Letter from Robert Blake to Government,
dated
I have the honor to acknowledge receipt
of your letter of the 25th ultimo acquainting me of my appointment
to the joint offices of Mint and Assay Master at Farrukhabad.
I beg that you will be pleased to
express to His Excellency the Most Noble the Governor General in Council the
high sense I feel for the honor conferred upon me, and I trust that by
attention to the duties of my office, and my exertions to carry this business
into effect will be such as may not render me unworthy of this mark of favour.
Resolution.
The Governor General in Council having
been informed that the figures 1204 have been introduced in the four anna
pieces prepared at the mint in Calcutta as specimens of the four anna pieces
proposed to be circulated in the upper provinces. Ordered that the Mint Master
be directed to prepare a new die for these pieces and to omit the figures above
mentioned.
Letter from the Calcutta Mint Master (H.
P. Forster) to Government, dated
In obedience to the orders of His
Excellency the Most Noble the Governor General in Council contained in your
letter dated the 11th instant, I have the honor to forward herewith
specimens of the new coinage for the Ceded and
Were it permitted me to offer an opinion
on the subject, I would venture to suggest the propriety of making the coin in
question more obviously distinct from the Calcutta sicca rupees than the mere
alteration of the date of the year and place of coinage render them, which to
the bulk of people not acquainted with the Persian character is no distinction
at all, and they will of course be liable to be imposed upon. At the same time
I would with deference recommend that the inscription on the copper coinage be
not the same as that on the silver, as it furnishes a ready means of imposing
on the public by silvering them over with quicksilver and passing them for
rupees and half rupees and, under the idea that His Excellency will approve of
the suggestion, I have likewise prepared distinct dies for the pice and half
pice with an inscription in the Persian and Nagree characters on one side
expressive of their denomination and value. The reverse remains the same as
directed.
Part of the machinery is dispatched and
the rest will be immediately.
Ordered that the Mint Master at the
Presidency be informed in reply to the letter above recorded, that the
specimens of the new coinage for the Ceded and
Ordered that the Mint Master at the
Presidency be also informed that the alterations suggested by him in the
inscriptions on the silver and copper coin are not considered by the Governor
General in Council to be necessary.
Letter from the Farrukhabad Mint
Committee to Government, dated
We have the honor to submit to you copy
of a report made to us by Mr Robert Blake under date the 4th
instant, on the subject of the mint in the city of Farrukhabad.
Should it meet with the approbation of
His Excellency the Most Noble the Governor General in Council, we beg leave to
recommend that Mr Blake’s suggestion of renting or purchasing one of the
numerous premises in the vicinity of Futtehghur for a temporary mint, may be
authorized, until a proper situation can be selected for erecting the requisite
buildings.
We are aware that little or no
inconvenience can arise to individuals from the adoption of this measure as,
for the first year, the operations of the mint will be confined to the
recoinage of the revenues of the Ceded and Conquered Provinces, and individuals
will not themselves have recourse to the recoinage of the old rupees till the
circulation of the new coin is in some degree established.
We are opinion that this object will be
greatly facilitated by striking a coin of the
The revenues being realised in the new
coinage from the commencement of the ensuing Fussily year, in October, the old
rupees will bear a considerable batta, when individuals will find it in their
interest to convert their bullion into the new coinage.
Mr Blake will hereafter submit for the
consideration of Government, a report on the copper coinage as well as a
statement of such establishment as may appear indispensably necessary for
conducting the duties of the mint.
Next is Mr Blake’s letter to the
Farrukhabad Mint Committee concerning the above matter. Then:
Letter from Government to the
Farrukhabad Mint Committee, dated
I am directed by His Excellency the Most
Noble the Governor General in Council to acknowledge the receipt of your letter
dated the 6th instant with its enclosure, and to acquaint you in
reply that the mint to be established at your station ought, unquestionably, in
the judgement of His Excellency in Council, to be situated in the town of
Farrukhabad. You will accordingly submit for the orders of Government a plan
and estimate of the expense of erecting a proper building for this purpose (if
none can be purchased) within the limits of the town.
The Governor General in Council does not
consider it to be proper to adopt your suggestion for striking a coin of the
Resolution of Council.
Read the proceedings in the department
of the Ceded and
Ordered that the Mint Master be directed
to dispatch the machinery ordered to be prepared on the above date with the
least possible delay.
Ordered that the Mint Master be further
directed to communicate with the Post Master General as to the safest and
quickest method of dispatching the dies to Farrukhabad, and to forward the dies
accordingly as soon, on the receipt of the present order, as may be
practicable.
Mint Committee is asked to send the
figures for mint production directly to the Accountant General.
A Regulation for the Reform of the Gold,
Silver and Copper coin of the Provinces Ceded by the Nawab Visier to the
Honorable the English East India Company – passed by the Governor General in
Council on
1.
The
first paragraph says, essentially, that there are many different silver rupees,
copper pice and gold mohurs in circulation in the Ceded Provinces.
2.
‘A
silver coin to be denominated the Lucknow sicca rupee of the forty fifth sun,
struck in the mint at Farrukhabad, corresponding in weight and standard with
the sicca rupee at present struck at Lucknow’ is to be the legal silver coin in
the Ceded Provinces.
3.
The
weight and standard will be published in due course.
4.
A
mint will be established in Farrukhabad to produce the rupees, halves and
quarters.
5.
The
rupees will be of the same size and form as the 19 sun siccas struck at
6.
The
half and quarter in proportion.
7.
The
edges milled and the dies the same size as the coin.
8.
Dies
prepared in the mint at
9.
Mint
Committee to be established at Farrukhabad consisting of the Magistrate and the
Collector. They will conform to instructions from the Calcutta Mint Committee.
10.
A
‘Mint and Assay’ Master will be appointed at Farrukhabad and will be subject to
the Mint Committee.
11.
The
Circuit Judge will visit the mint every six months to check that all is in
order.
12.
The
Calcutta Mint Master will cause a private mark to be added to the Farrukhabad
dies, not visible to the naked eye. He must keep a registry of these marks.
13.
One
member of the Committee will, every two weeks, indiscriminately select three of
each description of coin and send them to the Mint Master at Calcutta for
examination.
14.
Counterfeiters,
clippers etc will be dealt with by the criminal courts.
15.
The
coins will be considered legal tender throughout the Ceded Provinces and must
be accepted as such.
16.
The
coins must not be marked and if they are, then they cease to be legal tender.
17.
The
triennial settlement of the land revenue will be fixed in the new
18.
Since
it will take some time to get enough rupees into circulation, old rupees may be
used to pay taxes up until the year 1216 Fussily.
19.
Similar
to previous except applies to other transactions between Government and
Individuals up to 1214 Fussily.
20.
More
about the rate of exchange between rupee types.
21.
ditto
22.
After
the start of 1214 Fussily all rupees of types other than the
23.
From
the start of 1216 Fussily no other rupee will be
considered legal tender.
24.
Deals
with bonds written in a particular type of rupee.
25.
Ditto
26.
After
1216 all agreements must be written in the 45 sun rupee.
27.
Native
officers must accept payments made in these rupees.
28.
And
not in any others.
29.
Silver
delivered to the mint will be returned as 45 sun rupees.
30.
Lower
standard silver will be refined to the new standard.
31.
Charge
for refining silver.
32.
Individuals
can choose to have their old coins refined.
33.
Wear
of 6 annas per cent will be allowed.
34.
If
the coins lose weight through fraudulent means, as opposed to wear, they will
be received at their intrinsic value.
35.
Ditto
36.
Ditto
37.
Mint
Master at
38.
Silver
received at the mint will be assayed, refined and coined in the order in which
it is received.
39.
Describes
the registers to be kept at the Farrukhabad Mint.
40.
The
registers must regularly be sent to
41.
The
operation of the mint at
The coinage of the silver specie
hitherto struck in the mint at Farrukhabad and denominated the Farrukhabad
rupee shall be discontinued from the time when the Mint Master at that station
shall be furnished with the necessary machinery and dies for commencing the new
silver coinage established by this regulation. Immediately on being enabled to
commence the new silver coinage, the mint master at Farrukhabad shall fix up a
written notification under his signature in a conspicuous part of the mint,
declaring that no silver bullion or silver coin will be received at the mint
for coinage into any other description of rupee than the rupee established by
this regulation from and after the date of such notification.
The notification will be distributed to
Collectors throughout the Ceded Provinces.
42.
No
gold coinage is deemed necessary because silver is used overwhelmingly. Gold
mohurs will not be considered a legal tender in the Ceded Provinces.
43.
A
copper coin of the forty fifth san weighing two hundred and eighty four and a
half grains troy and consisting of pure copper shall be established.
44.
The
form size and impression to be the same as the rupee but the edge will not be
milled.
45.
These
pice and half pice will be coined at Farrukhabad.
46.
Individuals
may have copper coined.
47.
They
may chose whole or half pice.
48.
Ditto
49.
Issued
for fractional parts of a rupee.
50.
Officials
must accept the coins.
51.
What
applies to the silver, applies to the copper – registers etc.
52.
Collectors
etc may be sued for damages for breaching this regulation.
AD 1805 Regulation XL
Extends the above regulation to the
Conquered Provinces situated within the Doab and on the right bank of the river
Jumna, ceded to the EIC by Dowlat Rao Scindia and to the territories situated
in Bundlecund and the right bank of the river Jumna ceded to the EIC by the
Peshwah…
The operation of the mint at Saharunpore
and of any other mint or mints within the provinces and territories mentioned
in section II, the operation of which shall not have already ceased, shall be
discontinued from the date of promulgation of this regulation with the
exception of whatever silver is already in the mint.
…ordered that the Mint Committee at
Ordered likewise that the other
Collectors in the Ceded and
Letter from the Mint Committee at
Farrukhabad to Government, dated
Number of rupees coined – statement
forwarded to the Accountant General, and not present in these papers
Letter to the Mint Committee at
Farrukhabad (Ahmuty & Lloyd) from Government, dated
I am directed by the Governor General in
Council to inform you that the Sub-treasurer has been desired to dispatch with
all practicable expedition to Farrukhabad from the treasure arrived from
The remittance is to be made in dollars
and it is to be recoined by the Mint Master at Farrukhabad into money of the
currency established by the late orders of Government, viz. The
Letter to the Mint Committee at
Farrukhabad (Ahmuty & Lloyd) from Government, dated
In continuation of the orders
communicated to you in my letter of the 10th instant, I am directed
by the Vice President in Council to desire that in the event of the arrival at
Farrukhabad of bullion to which that letter refers, before you receive the new
machinery from the mint at the Presidency, you will instruct the Mint Master to
coin the bullion into the Farrukhabad rupee of the established standard now in
circulation.
The remittance will be dispatched this
day from
Letter from the Mint Committee at
Farrukhabad to Government, dated
Statement of rupees produced in August.
Forwarded to the Accountant General.
Letter from the Collector at Etawah to
Government, dated
In reply to the 3rd paragraph
of your letter of 24th August, I beg leave to acquaint you that the
mint at Etawah was abolished many years previous to the cession of their
territories, and on enquiry I understand that all the dies and instruments of
coinage have long since been destroyed.
Letter from the Commander-in-Chief (
I have the honor by direction of the
Right Honorable Lord Lake, to request you will submit to Government the
accompanying copy of a letter from Mr Ahmuty, and Mint Committee at Farrukhabad
together with His Lordship’s reply thereto.
His Lordship trusts that the measure he
has accepted in sanctioning the erection of a mint at the recommendation of Mr
Blake, the Mint Master, will meet with the approbation or sanction of
Government.
His Lordship deemed the measure
indispensably necessary at the present crisis, as any delay in the coinage of
the bullion, might be attended with the greatest hazard and inconvenience to
the public service.
Letter to
We have to request you will be pleased
to report to His Excellency the Right Honorable Lord Lake that the Mint Master
has represented to us that the native mint in the city of
Government have directed an estimate to
be submitted for erecting a mint within the city of
Letter to the Mint Committee at
Farrukhabad from
I have had the honor to submit your
letter of the 15th instant to the Right Honorable Lord Lake on the
subject of a suggestion by Mr Blake, the Mint Master, for erecting a mint near
the cantonments of Farrukhabad for coining the bullion now coming up from the
Presidency.
In consideration of the urgent demand
for cash at the present moment and the great inconvenience that must arise to
the public service from any delay in coining the bullion proceeding to
Farrukhabad, His Lordship is pleased to sanction the erection of a mint at the
spot recommended by Mr Blake.
It is His Lordship’s intention
immediately to report to Government the measure he has deemed it expedient to
authorize on this occasion.
Ordered that the Secretary writes the
following letter to the Mint Committee at Farrukhabad.
I am directed by the Honorable the Vice
President in Council to transmit to you the enclosed copy of a letter from the
Secretary to the Right Honorable the Commander-in-Chief and to acquaint you
that the expense which may have been incurred under His Lordship’s orders in
preparing the temporary mint for the coinage of the bullion dispatched from the
Presidency, will of course be sanctioned. You are desired however to submit a
detailed account of the expenditure for the consideration of Government.
You are likewise desired to expedite the
report required from you on the 25th July last respecting the
establishment of a permanent mint in the town of
Letter from Colonel Morris to
Government, dated
He offers to rent his estate for use as
a mint at the rate of 250 rupees per month, or sell it for 2000rps.
Recommended that the property be
purchased
From Mint Committee at Farrukhabad to
Government, dated
Mr Blake had been fully occupied coining
the bullion into rupees for the use of the army. This should be complete on the
10th or 12th of January.
Letter from the Mint Committee at
Farrukhabad (Ahmuty & Potts) to Government, dated
List of all the rupees current in the
Ceded and
Letter from the Mint Committee at
Farrukhabad to Government, dated
We have the honor to submit to you for
the orders of the Honble the Governor General in Council a copy of a letter
addressed to us by the Agent to the Governor General at
Letter from the Acting Agent to the
Governor General (Seton) to the Farrukhabad Mint Committee,
As the utmost distress is experienced at
this place from the scarcity, I might almost say from the total disappearance,
of copper pice, I think it my duty to notice it to you. The true cause of this
inconvenience I have not yet been able to ascertain. I am however inclined to
believe that there is in truth a scarcity of that species of coin, which may
partly have given rise to the present distress, but that it is principally
occasioned by a combination among the bankers.
If circumstances admitted of the coinage
of copper pice and half pice taking place in conformity to the 45th
section of the 45th regulation of 1803, or even if half and quarter
rupees could be coined and brought into circulation agreeably to the 4th
section of that regulation, it occurs to me that the convenience of the
community would be greatly promoted.
To address you on this subject may not,
perhaps, be strictly speaking within my province, but I feel it a sort of duty
to communicate to you on an occasion of this interesting nature, the result of
my observations.
Ordered that the secretary write the
following letter to the Mint Committee at Farrukhabad.
I am directed to acknowledge the receipt
of a letter from you dated the 27th ultimo with its enclosures, and
to acquaint you that the Honble the Governor General in Council authorizes you
to direct the Mint and Assay Master at Farrukhabad to coin such quantity of
pice and of half and quarter pice, as you may deem necessary, as a medium of
exchange in the Ceded and Conquered Provinces, after making such enquiries
respecting the quantity required for that purpose as you may judge to be
advisable from the Agent to the Governor General at Bareilly and other local
officers. The Acting Commercial Resident at
Ordered
that the Acting Commercial Resident at
Letter from Captain Thomas Preston to
Government, dated
I have the honor to return the plan of
Colonel Morris’s estate at Futy Ghur with the paper transmitted therewith, and
I beg leave to offer it as my opinion that the property is fully worth sicca
rupees 12,000, the sum for which it is offered to Government.
The ground measures about 28 biggahs and
contains two extensive buildings, which appear to me well calculated either for
a courthouse or a mint and may be adopted to either purpose, as I conceive, at
a very moderate expense.
Should the Honorable the Governor
General in Council think proper to authorize the purchase of the above
property, either the rent from the time that Mr Blake has been in possession,
or the cost of putting the premises into habitable repair, ought, I think, to
be deducted from the sum paid for them.
There then follows a letter from Colonel
Morris asking for rent from October 1805 to February 1806.
The Governor General accepted the
proposal to buy the property for 12,000 Rs, and instructed the Company’s
attorney to prepare the necessary paperwork. The cost of making the house
habitable was to be deducted from the amount paid, and the rent was to be paid.
Letter to Government from the Company’s
Attorney, dated
In obedience to the orders of the
Governor General, communicated to me by your letter of the 17th
ultimo, I prepared under the directions of the Advocate General, a conveyance
by deeds of lease and release from Colonel Morris to the Honble Company of
premises at Farrukhabad for a mint at that station, which I have the honour to
forward to you duly executed and to return the plan.
Letter from Colonel Morris to
Government, dated
I have the honor to enclose my bill for
house rent and beg the favour of your submitting it to Government for payment.
Any expense for actual repairs that the
Mint Master may have laid out on the premises, after his taking possession, by
order of the Commander in Chief, I promise to reimburse.
|
To the rent for this house at
Futtyghur for the following months: October, November, December 1805.
January, February, March, April and May 1806, at the monthly rent of 250
rupees |
Rs 2000 |
Ordered that the Board of Revenue be
desired to instruct the Collector of the 24 Pergunnahs to pay Col. Morris the
sum of Rs2000 on account of the rent of the buildings at Futtyghur, lately
purchased by Government, for the months of October etc.
From Colonel Morris to Government, dated
May I request the favour of you to
submit the accompanying bill for house rent to Government.
On my Agent’s applying for the rent due
to me, previous to my estate being used as a mint by order of His Excellency
the Commander in Chief, he received a note from Mr Blake, Mint Master, an
extract from which I have the pleasure to enclose.
I think it necessary to inform you that
the house rent bill I made out and presented to Government, commenced on
|
To the rental of my house at Futtyghur For a mint for the month of September
1805 |
Rs250 |
Also enclosed is a letter from Mr Blake
confirming that the rent began on 1st September not 1st
October.
Accountant General to Government.
I have the honor to acquaint you that
the Mint Master at Farrukhabad has not transmitted any of his accounts since
April last. It is unnecessary for me to point out the inconvenience arising
from public officers not furnishing their monthly accounts regularly. The Mint
Master ought to have transmitted each month’s account by the 15th of
each succeeding month at latest. I trust the Honorable the Governor General in
Council will be pleased therefore to issue such orders for the due transmission
of these accounts in future as will render it unnecessary to trouble the
Government again on this subject.
Ordered that the secretary write the
following letter to the Mint Committee at Farrukhabad:
I am directed to transmit to you the
enclosed copy of a letter from the Accountant General and to acquaint you that
the Honorable the Governor General in Council desires that you will call upon
the Mint and Assay Master at Farrukhabad for an explanation of his conduct in
neglecting to furnish the necessary accounts at the prescribed period of time
and that you will forward his reply to Government with any observations which
may occur to you on the subject.
You will at the same time direct Mr
Blake to forward the accounts, now due, to the Accountant General with the
least practicable delay.
Letters from Farrukhabad Mint Committee
& Blake stating that the reason the accounts had not been submitted was
that Blake had been too busy building the new mint, which was now ready for
operations.
Letter from Colonel Morris to
Government, dated
In the bungalow Government purchased of
me for a mint at Futty Ghur, there was a number of
wall-shades, paintings, pictures and other furniture, which Mr Blake, Mint
Master, who, I understand, now resides on the premises, has detained and
positively refuses delivering them up to my agent.
I have used every means in my power
thro’ my agent to recover this property and even adopted accommodating measures
to prevent my present appeal to Government.
I have therefore to request you will do
me the honor of representing Mr Blake’s unwarrantable conduct in this instance
to the Governor General in Council and solicit his interference in compelling
Mr Blake to deliver up to my agent, Mr Robertson, at Futy Ghur, all the
property that belongs to me.
There are then copies of letters between
Robertson and Blake. Blake is directed to return the items.
Letter from the Mint Committee at
Farrukhabad to Government, dated
The Bungalow containing the mint and
assay office was hit by lightening on
Letter from the
Costs of the Farrukhabad mint for
November and December 1805 and January and February 1806. A lot of caveats
added by the auditor.
Letter from the
Costs of the Farrukhabad mint from March
to December 1806, again with many comments from the auditors.
The
Governor General likewise proposes that Mr R Graham be appointed to the
position of Mint Master at Farrukhabad with a salary of Rupees 800 per month
and that Mr R Blake be appointed Assay Master at that station, with a salary of
Rupees 1200 per month.
Letter
from Farrukhabad Mint Committee to Government, dated
Very
long letter drawing attention to the fact that the new 45 sun coins were being
issued at a rate below their intrinsic value thereby causing problems. This was
referred to the Board of Commissioners.
Concerning
the property claimed to have been stolen from the house sold by Colonel Morris
for use as a mint. Mr Blake claimed that he had agreed with Colonel Morris that
he should have the property. The Governor General stated that it was not the
business of Government and would have to be sorted out by the parties involved.
Letter from Blake to Government, dated
Charge of the mint had been handed to Mr
R Graham.
Letter from R. Graham to Government,
dated
Charge of the mint had been received
from Mr R Blake.
The Governor General proposes on
consideration of the accompanying letter from Mr R Graham that his application
for leave of absence from his station be complied with and that Mr H G
Christian be nominated as Collector of Farrukhabad until Mr Graham’s return to
his station, or until further orders.
Adverting likewise to the necessity of
investing a person experienced in the business of the coinage with the charge
of the mint at the above mentioned station, His Lordship proposes that Mr T
Yeld, the Mint and Assay Master at Banaras, be deputed to officiate as Mint
Master at Farrukhabad until Mr Graham’s return or until further orders, and
that the Mint Committee at Banaras be directed to make such provision for the
conduct of the business of the mint at that station as may appear to them most
advisable, reporting the arrangement for the conformation of Government. It
will of course be necessary that MT Yeld should proceed to Farrukhabad with all
practicable dispatch. Mr Graham should await the arrival of Mr Yeld at
Farrukhabad unless the state of his health should previously render it
indispensably necessary for him to quit his station, in which case he must, as
the only expedient, deliver over charge of the mint temporarily to Mr Blake.
Letter from the Board of Commissioners
to Government, dated
Your Lordship will perceive from our
correspondence with the Mint Master that we have attended in person at the mint
for the purpose of inspecting the machinery and satisfying ourselves with
respect to the manner in which the coinage is at present conducted. We shall
proceed therefore to offer such remarks as have occurred to us on the present
state of the mint in the course of our different visits, in order that your
Lordship in Council may be enabled to determine what measures are necessary for
the purpose of placing this establishment on a proper footing.
The machinery used in the European
process of coinage appears to us to be generally in an inefficient state at
present, and the laminating machines we found could not be used until the
ingots had been prepared for them by the hammer.
In consequence of the defective state of
the machinery, the want of skill of the workmen, and of our entertaining doubts
with respect to the practicability of preparing proper machinery at this place,
it appears to us that it would not be advisable, at present, to attempt to
carry on the coinage generally by means of the laminating and cutting machines,
and that no fixed establishment should therefore be allowed for those machines
or for the adjustment of the planchet.
The melting was reported to us by the
Mint and Assay Masters in the first instance to be very defective and those
officers stated that it had been found impracticable to reduce the metal to a
perfect fluid state, but this difficulty, we are happy to say, has been
overcome upon actual trial in our presence. A difficulty experienced from a
want of proper moulds for casting ingots fit for the laminating machine was
also complained of, but it may also we think be easily surmounted in a short
time.
The persons at present employed in
carrying on the different processes by machinery appeared to us to be very
inexpert, and we should not have supposed that they could have had any
experience whatsoever. Those in particular who were collected as adjusters had
never, we understood, been employed before in that process.
The coinage also carried on by Daraps
appeared to us to be coarse and imperfect. The tools used in this process are
very defective and do not admit of the workmen producing as good planchets as
might be fabricated even by the ordinary process in use among the natives.
The planchets made by the Daraps, not
being circular, and the concave and collar dies as they are at present used,
not having the effect of rendering them so, the milling dies are likely to be
greatly injured in being applied to such planchets, and the milling is
consequently imperfect. We suggested to the Mint Master to apply for new
milling dyes, and we recommend that these dyes be always furnished from the
Presidency as they cannot be properly made here at present, and it is desirable
that the construction and use of the milling machine should not be generally
known.
There appeared to us to be a want of
order and arrangement throughout the different departments of the mint. The
duties of the several officers and workmen had not been defined, and some
general regulations for the conduct of the business were evidently wanting.
The actual loss incurred in the
processes of refining and milling had not, we understand, been ascertained, but
our orders to the Mint and Assay Masters of this date have in view to obtain
accurate information on this point, as well as to ascertain the loss likely to
be incurred in adjusting the planchets by the European process.
The late Mint Master states the loss on
melting may he thinks be reduced to 3as 6ps per cent, the rate allowed by him
at Patna, and that the weight or loss on refining may by further improvements
be reduced to about 8 annas per cent, altho’ he was obliged to allow 1¼ per
cent, and we do not find that this charge was subsequently reduced by working
up the [??].
The present Mint Master appears to have
been guided by a table of rates mentioned to have been established by
Government for regulating the allowance for refining, and to the rates allowed
by this table he seems to think about 14 annas per cent must be added, which,
however, is recoverable from the furnaces. No experiments appear yet to have
been made for the purpose of ascertaining the actual waste or loss on refining,
and, as we are not aware that any table of rates has been established for this
mint, we have desired the Mint Master to report under what authority the table
alluded to has been assumed by him. It has been ascertained that the allowance
granted by the table of rates used in the Calcutta mint, exceeds the actual
loss, and this table ought not therefore to be adopted here without particular
enquiry for the purpose of determining whether a saving of expense cannot be
effected on this process.
With a view to ascertaining this and
other essential points connected with the business of the mint, we have deemed
it necessary to direct the Mint and Assay Masters to carry on conjointly a
series of experiments in person, and we hope that from the results some
judgement may be formed with respect to the measures which it may be necessary
for your Lordship in Council to adopt for regulating the establishment in
future.
We have prolonged our stay at this
station beyond the time which we had originally fixed for our departure in
order that we might ascertain by personal enquiries the present state of the
coinage, but as a considerable time would be necessary were we to attempt to
regulate the internal economy of the mint, and as we can no longer delay our
departure without prejudice to the other and important and more immediate
objects of out deputation in these provinces, we have determined to proceed
towards Agra on the 2nd proximo,
and our early departure will account to your Lordship in Council for our not
having prosecuted our enquiries to a conclusion, and for this report not being
so complete as we should otherwise have been desirous of rendering it.
About
10 letters follow requesting information from the Mint and Assay Masters and te
replies detailing the cost of each part of the process etc. There is an
inventory of dead stock which includes a list of the dies then in the mint:
30 pairs of dies as follows:
28 prs for the new 45 Sn Rps
14 prs fit for use
14 prs reported
unserviceable
2 prs of plain dies for
the half rupee
3 prs of dies for the copper coinage
12 prs of concave dies
5 prs of ditto for ½ and ¼ rupees
58 prs of plain dies for forming the
planchets
37 spare ditto ditto
4 prs plain dies for ½ rupee
7 prs ditto for ¼ rupee
5 spare ditto ditto
Letter from Yeld to Government, dated
I have the honor to acknowledge your
letter of the 20th instant, conveying the orders of the Right
Honorable the Governor General in Council to me to repair with all practicable
dispatch to take charge of the office of Mint Master at Farrukhabad during the
absence of Mr Graham or until further orders.
I have by this night’s dawk, written to
the different stations to have dawk bearers laid on the road for me, without
delay, and intend to leave on this day week, which will be so soon as they can
be ready for me.
Letter to Government from the Board of
Commissioners, dated
I am directed by the Board to transmit
for the inspection of the Governor General in Council, fifteen specimens of the
coinage of the mint at Farrukhabad.
The specimens in question appear to the
Board preferable to the planchets they had an opportunity of inspecting when
they personally attended [gap] that the Mint and Assay Masters at
Ordered that a copy of the above letter,
together with the specimens of the rupees mentioned to accompany it, be sent to the Mint Master and Assay Master,
and that they be directed to furnish Government with a joint report upon the
fabric and assay of the coinage in its several stages.
Letter from the Board of Commissioners
(Box and Tucker) to Government, dated
We have the honor to report for the
information of your Lordship in Council that we returned to this station on the
4th instant, chiefly for the purpose of ascertaining what progress
had been made in the business of the mint.
Immediately upon our arrival we called
upon the Mint Master and Assay Master to report to us their proceedings under
our instructions to them of the 31st October and, altho’ our letter
has not yet been expressly acknowledged, we have the honor to submit for the
consideration of your Lordship in Council copy of a letter and its enclosure on
the subject, which we have just received from those officers.
We attended also in person at the mint
for the purpose of observing whether any improvement had taken place in the
coinage, and in the mode of conducting business, but we can only report from
our own immediate observations that the mint appears to be in much the same
state as we had the honor to represent it in our letter of the 31st
October. Some workmen have been employed in improving the tools (the anvils and
hammers) used by the duraps, and a furnace and several new sheds appear to have
been erected, but as the necessity for the latter was not apparent, we directed
the Mint Master to discontinue all work of the kind, until they shall have been
sanctioned, and the authority of Government has been obtained for incurring the
expense.
The machinery intended for the European
process of coinage, has not we understand been used during our absence and we,
ourselves, doubt whether the laminating and cutting machines can be used
successfully in their present state. We beg leave therefore to repeat what we
had the honor to state in our letter of the 31st October, that no
attempt should, we think, be made to introduce the European process of coinage
at this mint until your Lordship in Council shall have had opportunity of
making arrangements which will afford a more satisfactory assurance that it can
be introduced with effect.
It does not appear to us necessary to
offer any remarks upon the letter from the Mint and Assay Masters, but your
Lordship in Council may probably deem it proper to order the statement
accompanying it to be referred to the Mint and Assay Masters at Calcutta, with
a view to ascertaining how far the loss in refining and melting corresponds
with the rates of charge in the Calcutta mint.
Having in our former letters (and
particularly in those of the 12th and 31st October)
submitted to your Lordship in Council every information in our power respecting
the new coinage, and our other duties rendering it necessary that we should
proceed immediately to a different part of the country, it is not probable that
we shall again have occasion to address your Lordship on the business of the
mint. Everything, which an earnest desire to promote the public interest
suggested, has been done or has been suggested by us and if the coinage should
continue imperfect or any difficulty should be experienced in introducing the
new currency and in establishing its circulation at its intrinsic value, we
trust that no reproach can be considered to attach to us.
Letter from the Farrukhabad Mint Master
(R. Graham) and Assay Master (R. Blake) to Board of Commissioners, dated
We have the honor to acknowledge the
receipt of your secretary’s letter of 31st October last and, in
conformity with the directions therein contained, we now transmit the results
of an experiment made under our mutual superintendence on a lac of rupees
coined by duraps, which we trust will be found to exhibit all the information
required by the Board and we hope will prove satisfactory, since to the best of
our judgement and information the result, even by the present process, is fully
equal to those obtained in the Calcutta mint.
We further beg leave to add that the
experiment directed by the Board to be made with a lac of rupees by machinery,
has been unavoidably delayed by our having been subjected to repeated and
severe indisposition, which precluded our undertaking the experiments, as well
from the want of proper ingot moulds (which are now prepared), as the attention
of the foreman, who is the only person in the mint to whom the superintending
conduct of the machinery can be entrusted, having been engaged in other
departments where his immediate and constant attention was indispensable.
The above is also a very considerable
impediment to the machinery being conducted on an extensive scale and which we
indeed conceive to require the undivided attention of one experienced European
artificer to do justice to that department, as well as additional machinery
such as another laminator, cutting machines, spare rollers etc, the moulds for
casting which are now in readiness in the mint.
There then follows a table of the result
of the experiment.
A number of letters then follow:
Board of Commissioners complain about
the tone of the Mint Master’s letter
Mint Master complains about Board of
Commissioners interfering
Mint Master states that coinage by
machinery is not recommended by him.
Letters concerning Jaynarain, the Dewan
of the mint, and Collypershaud, a Mutsuddy, and their re-appointment
Also several more and the finally:
From Government to Board of
Commissioners dated
The Governor General in Council in
consideration of the information submitted with your several letters of the
above dates, has been pleased to adopt the recommendation contained in the 4th
paragraph of your address of the 9th ultimo –Viz. “that no attempt
should be made to introduce the European process of coinage at Farrukhabad
until such arrangements shall have been adopted as may afford a more
satisfactory assurance that it can be introduced with effect”. His Lordship in Council
accordingly desires that you will issue such orders to the Mint Master for the
conduct of the coinage by means of Duraps as may appear to you to be necessary
under the forgoing resolution..
Letter from the Calcutta Mint Master (H.
P. Forster) to Government, dated
In obedience to the requisition
contained in your letter dated the 1st instance, to report upon the
fabric of the coinage in its several stages in the mint of Farrukhabad, I beg
leave to inform you I transmitted copy of your letter and its enclosures,
together with specimens of the coins, to the Assay Master for his report on the
assay thereof.
With respect to the fabric, I beg leave
to observe that the blanks in the first instance do not appear to be forged
near to circular as they ought and might be, and that this is a course attended
with a considerable defect throughout the rest of the stages. A piece of
malleable metal on receiving a blow spreads equally on all sides, as appears by
that struck on the concave die, and which, by not being perfectly circular when
put into the collar die, one side must always be brought up squarer then the other.
At the same time I beg leave to observe that the milling is still more
defective, the fixed die of that machine being seven or eight threads too long,
so that part of the rupee is double milled, and the coin not being originally
circular, is pinched in one part. Besides the milling machine is evidently too
light secured, which causes the milling to be worse and too deep, and subject
to great wear by the friction of so many rough edges. I see no objection to the
impression dies. They appear to be accurately and well taken up.
There then follows a ore from the Assay
Master stating that the standard seems fine but the variation in weight is too
great. This could be corrected by getting the weighmen to pay better attention.
Letter from T. Yeld (Acting Mint Master)
to Board of Commissioners, dated
Following the disappearance of 110
rupees from the mint every person except the Darogah and Treasurer was to be
search each night as they left the mint. On the first night the mint employees
refused to be searched and were forced to spend the night in the mint. The same
thing happened on the second night. The Acting Mint Master requested
confirmation that his order should stand.
From Board of Commissioners to Yeld,
Confirmed that everyone leaving the mint
should be searched and this was subsequently confirmed by the Governor General
on 5th February (No. 27).
Letter from Government to the Board of
Commissioners, dated
The Governor General in Council has been
pleased to re-appoint Joynarain Bhose and Callerpersand [?] to be Dewan and
Mutsuddy of the mint at Farrukhabad as recommended.
Letter to Government from the Board of
Commissioners (for the Conquered and
In the original establishment for the
mint at Farrukhabad the Dewan received a salary of 150 rupees per mensum which,
in the establishment subsequently proposed by the late Mint Master and now in
use, was reduced to rupees 75. The Acting Mint Master having lately addressed
us on the inadequacy of the salary to the trust reposed in and the duties
required from this officer, we called upon him to state whether in recommending
an increase of salary to the Dewan, he proposed to revert to the former
establishment in which it stood at 150 rupees , or to now model the present
establishment so as to admit of the increase without any additional expense to
Government. The Acting Mint Master has informed us, in answer, that the
original establishment having been formed on a calculation of only half the
present monthly coinage could not now be reverted to, and that with the
increasing business of the mint, no reduction could be made in the present
establishment. As we concur with the Acting Mint Master in opinion, that the
salary of rupees 75 now received by the Dewan is very inadequate to the duties
and responsibility attached to his station, we beg leave to recommend that an
additional 75 rupees per mensum be allowed to him from the ensuing month.
Reply dated
On consideration of the circumstances
stated by you, the Governor General in Council has been pleased to increase the
salary of the Dewan of the mint at Farrukhabad to rupees 150 per month as
recommended by you from the 1st of the ensuing month.
Letter from Government to the Board of
Commissioners, dated
I am directed to transmit to you the
enclosed extracts from the proceeding of Government in the judicial department,
respecting a claim preferred by Rajah Dyaram to compensation for the loss
sustained from the abolition of the mint at Hatras.
Although the Rajah may not possess any
legal claim, strictly speaking, to compensation, yet adverting to the length of
time which the mint was established and to all the circumstances of the case,
the Governor General in Council is disposed to offer a favourable attention to
the claim of the Rajah to compensation for the loss sustained from that cause.
You are accordingly desired to consider in the formation of the ensuing
settlement of the Rajah’s estate, what deduction should be allowed on that
account.
Letter from Yeld to the Board of
Commissioners, dated
I am truly concerned to have to report
to your Board the loss of an active diligent and industrious public servant by
the death this morning of Mt Gairard, the foreman of the mint, after a short
but severe illness of three days.
The extreme badness of the native
artisans in this part of the country leads me to request the favour of your
immediate application for his situation being filled without delay by a
properly qualified person from the Calcutta Mint, and for the information of
those to whom the selection may be referred, I beg to state that the foreman is
required to be capable of directing and superintending the repairs and
occasional remaking of all the machinery used in a mint, and all kinds of work
done by carpenters, bricklayers and blacksmiths and that he should be
personally master of turning in steel and hard metals, and also that he should
be particularly conversant in the adjustment of the milling machinery and
striking presses. It may also be necessary to state that the salary is 25
rupees per month without apartments or any accommodation for a residence in the
mint.
Letter from Government to the Board of
Commissioners (No. 23)
The Mint Committee at
Letter from the Board of Commissioners to Government, dated
Asked for extra allowance for Mr Yeld
‘on the occasion of his surrendering the charge of the mint at Farrukhabad’. He
was granted an extra Rs300 per month for the time he was in charge.
Letter from the Magistrate at
Farrukhabad to Government, dated
Parcels of coins, each containing 10
rupees taken in June, July, August, September and
October 1808.
Letter from Government to Board of
Commissioners, dated
Request to know the rules established
for individuals taking bullion (or coins) to the mint for coining.
Bengal Consultations, 27th
January 1809. IOR P/55/18, No. 24.
Letter from the Farrukhabad Magistrate
to Government, dated 4th December 1808.
Three parcels each with 10 rupees taken
in November and December 1808 and sent to the Presidency.
Bengal Consultations, 17th
February 1809. IOR P/55/18, No. 21.
Letter from Yeld to Government (via
Board of Commissioners), dated 15th February 1809.
The letter explains that his extra costs
have actually been Rs500 per month and he therefore requested a further 200 per
month in addition to what he had already been given. This was granted from ‘20th
November 1807 to 8th December 1808’.
Bengal Consultations, 5th May
1809. IOR P/55/21, No. 16.
Letter from Government to Board of
Commissioners (Colebrooke & Deane), dated 14th March 1809.
We have the honor to acknowledge the
receipt of your Lordship’s orders contained in the 2nd paragraph of
Mr Secretary Dowdeswell’s letter of the 13th January last, directing
me to state what rules we would propose to be finally established at the mint
of Farrukhabad with respect to the payment to individuals of the produce of
their bullion or dollars.
From a comparison of the letters from
the sub-treasurer and the Mint Master at Calcutta, which were transmitted to us
by your Lordship’s instructions, and on reference to the advertisement on the 6th
April 1803 quoted by the sub-treasurer, we observe that the mint certificates
are made payable in ten days for standard bullion and in fifteen days for
bullion inferior to standard, from the date of the delivery of the bullion, but
that an authority was at the same time given for the discharge of these
certificates at the General Treasury, whenever the state of the treasury might
admit of it, without any discount in consequence of such certificates not being
payable at the time, and for the receipt of them in payments on account of salt
and opium whether payable at the time or otherwise, and that those individuals
who are prepared to wait for the payment of their certificates from the mint,
are paid the produce of their bullion in the course of 5 to 7 days according to
circumstances, while those who prefer carrying their certificates to the
General Treasury are now allowed to exchange them for treasury notes bearing
interest from the date on which their bullion was delivered to the mint.
From the accounts of the Farrukhabad
mint since the month of September, when individuals first began to bring their
bullion to the mint, we find that payment to them of the value of their bullion
has varied according to the state of the coinage from 2 to 10 days, and that
the usual and average period of payment is 6 days from the delivery of their
bullion, and as the influx of private bullion continued to increase rapidly and
progressively during the four subsequent months under this system of payment, we
are not aware of any provision being necessary for accelerating the payment.
It is however to be observed that during
these months the coinage on account of Government has, except in the month of
January, been inconsiderable, and that as in this month also the public coinage
bore no proportion to the private bullion, individuals experienced no
interruption in the receipt of their money on the public account.
|
September |
|
|
October |
89,498 |
|
November |
|
|
December |
281,023 |
|
January |
434,010 |
|
|
804,531 |
It may be therefore expedient to make
some provision for obviating any delay in the event of the payments to
individuals being necessarily postponed in consequence of any pressure of
public coinage and we accordingly take the liberty of suggesting that in such
case, and if at the same time the state of the Collector’s treasury should
admit of payment being earlier made from that fund, the Collector be generally
instructed to discharge all mint certificates when produced to him, as long as
such payments should not interfere with the authorized demands on his treasury
or with any appropriation which the superintendent of resources may have
directed to his efficient balance.
|
September |
32,702 |
|
October |
332,244 |
|
November |
551,447 |
|
December |
650,640 |
|
January |
662,185 |
|
|
2,229,218 |
The progressive increase above noticed
in the influx of private bullion to the mint had extended from 32,702 in
September to 662,185 in January, yielding a total coinage of twenty-two lacs.
The whole of the public money realised during this time was only eight lacs.
The private bullion in February had fallen down to 130,188 and the operations
of the mint are now wholly at a stand for want of bullion either public or
private. The Mint Master attributes the discontinuance of the delivery of
private money to the alarming height to which gang robberies have lately been
carried and he mentions one mehajun to have sustained a loss of 63,000 dollars
intended for the mint, and two other mehajuns to have lost the whole of their
remittances. A public remittance of two lacs of rupees of sorts from the Agra
treasury has been some time lying at Mynpooree for want of an escort to convey
it to the mint. As our residence at Farrukhabad will now be of some duration,
we shall apply our attention to ascertaining the real causes of this
interruption to the influx of private bullion, and will hereafter do ourselves
the honor of addressing your Lordship on the subject.
We take this opportunity of submitting
to your Lordship copy of a letter from the Mint Master in regard to the
assistance which he will require from the Presidency for carrying into effect
the experiment of a coinage by machinery which your Lordship has authorized in
the 2nd paragraph of your orders of the 28th November
last and we solicit your Lordship’s directions for his being furnished with the
laminating machine and its necessary numbers of spare rollers, the two cutting
presses, two milling machines and the turner’s lathe paticularized in the 5th
paragraph of his letter.
We take the liberty of suggesting at the
same time that these articles, and all others occasionally supplied from the
Presidency, may be new. What is usually received here appears to have been
previously used in the Calcutta mint and repaired (not always in the completed
manner) for dispatch to Farrukhabad. The machines now in use here are
accordingly in constant want of repair, and the interruption as well as expense
thereby occasioned are equally productive of inconvenience.
The necessity for glazing the apartments
in which the machinery may be worked appears indispensable. The effects of the
hot winds, exclusive of the dust, can only be obviated by the intervention of
glass, and we may also observe that the dust is not confined to the season of
the hot winds. It is in this neighbourhood raised in the most troublesome
quantities at all times of the year whenever the wind is of any force. We
accordingly beg leave to suggest that the Mint Master may be permitted to
purchase the requisite supply, in the mode proposed by him, whenever an
opportunity may offer of procuring it on favourable terms.
The mechanical abilities of both Mr Donnithorne and Mr
Blake might we think be advantageously employed in preparing on the spot most
of the articles now supplied from Calcutta. Both gentlemen are equally perfect
in the practical as well as the theoretical parts of mechanics, and the two
milling machines on which Mr Donnithorne is now engaged, promises to equal the
most delicate execution of a professional artist. The corrections he has given
to the milling machines now in use have already removed a defect to which that
part of the process had till now been liable.
Bengal Consultations, 5th May
1809. IOR p/55/21, No. 23.
Letter from Government to the Board of
Commissioners dated 5th May 1809.
I am directed by the Right Honorable the
Governor General in Council to acknowledge receipt of two letters from you
dated the 14th March last and 17th ultimo with their
enclosure.
The Governor General in Council approves
and sanctions the rule proposed by you to be adopted with respect to the
payment to individuals of the produce of bullion or dollars brought by them for
coinage to the mint at Farrukhabad. Viz. that the Collector should discharge
all mint certificates when produced before him, provided that the payment
thereof not interfere with the discharge of any authorized demands on the
treasury or with the approbation ordered by the Superintendent of military
resources to be made of the efficient balance.
The Governor General in Council has
learnt with much concern the entire discontinuance of the coinage on account of
individuals and the causes to which that occurrence is ascribed. His Lordship
in Council is of course desirous of receiving any further information which you
may have obtained on this subject.
A copy of the 6th and 7th
paragraphs of your report together with a copy of the letter from the Mint
Master will be forwarded to the Mint Committee at the Presidency with
directions to cause the article required for the mint at Farrukhabad to be
prepared and dispatched to that station. The committee will at the same time be
directed to attend to your suggestions respecting the quality and condition of
the articles required.
The Mint Master is authorised to
purchase the glass required for the mint at Farrukhabad in the manner suggested
by you.
His Lordship in Council has observed
with satisfaction the testimony borne by you of the ability displayed by Mr
Donnithorne and Mr Blake in execution of the machinery of the mint.
I am directed to transmit to you the
enclosed copy of a letter to the Governor General by the Mint Master at
Farrukhabad and to acquaint you that Government has been pleased to increase
the salary of the Assistant to the Collector and Mint Master to Rupees 600 per
month from the 1st instant. The sum of Rupees 600 per month is the
ordinary allowance of an Assistant to a Collector and the sum of Rupees 200 per
month as the allowance of the Assistant to the Mint Master. You are desired to
communicate these orders to Mr Donnithorne.
Bengal Consultations, 5th May
1809. IOR P/55/21, No. 26.
Letter from the Farrukhabad Magistrate
to Government, dated 24th April 1809.
I have the honor to advise you of my
having this day forwarded under the care of Lieutenant Gilman specimens of the
coinage taken from the mint at this station in the last five months.
Bengal Consultations, 19th
May 1809. IOR P/55/21, No. 49-50.
Letter from the Board of Commissioners
to Government, dated 25th April 1809.
Requested permission to construct a
building to store charcoal. Total cost was Rs 315. This was authorised.
Bengal Consultations, 2nd
June 1809. IOR P/55/22, No. 27-30.
Letter from the Board of Commissioners
to Government, dated 1809.
The letter supports the Mint Master’s
request to build a new building to replace those struck by lightening.
Letter to Board of Commissioners from
Mint Master (Donnithorne),
Request to replace buildings destroyed
by lightening with an estimate of the cost – Rs 3919 - 8ans
Authorised building
Bengal Consultations, 22nd
July 1809. IOR P/55/23, No. 28.
Letter from the Board of Commissioners
to Government, dated 21st June 1809.
Enclosed and supported a letter from Mr
Blake (Assay Master) for extra payments whilst he was Mint and Assay Master.
Letter from Blake to the Board of
Commissioners.
I beg leave to submit to the
consideration of the Board my claim to a further remuneration for the duties
performed by me as Mint and Assay Master at Farrukhabad from the 25th
April 1805 to the 2nd July 1807.
Shortly after the cession I was
encouraged by the Marquis Wellesley to come up into this part of the country to
carry into effect the views of Government for the reformation of the coin in
the upper provinces and I in consequence quitted the indigo pursuit in which I
was engaged near Patna, where it is presumable from the success of others in
that quarter I might, had I remained, have acquired ere this a competent
fortune.
From the rainy season of 1802 I remained
(with a short exception) until April 1805, at Bareilly in expectation of the
post with which I was afterwards honored, and during the whole of this period I
received no pay or emolument tho’ repeatedly employed by the lieutenant
Governor and Board of Commissioners, and subsequently under the orders of
Government by the Agent to the Governor General, in making assays and reports
of the various coins current in this quarter of India and in preparing the
table of rates and in deputation to investigate and report on the commerce of
cumman and Almoah. The expense incurred in the duties here mentioned was
defrayed from my private funds.
He had received Rs 1500 per month but
now asked for Rs 2500. He was granted an extra 309 rupees per month for the 26
months that he held the job.
Bengal Consultations, 13th
October 1809. IOR P/55/24, No. 39.
From the Farrukhabad Magistrate to
Government, 19 August 1809.
Parcels, each of 10 rupees, taken in
May, June, July and August 1809.
Bengal Consultations, 27th
October 1809. IOR P/55/24, No. 49.
Farrukhabad Magistrate to Government, 15th
October 1809.
Specimens of coins taken from the mint
in the last 2 months.
Bengal Consultations, 8th
December 1809. IOR P/55/25, No. 43.
Letter from the Acting Magistrate of
Farrukhabad to Government, dated 15th October 1809.
Sent samples of 10 rupees each taken in
August, September and October 1809.
Bengal Consultations, 29th
June 1810. IOR P/7/32, No. 113.
Letter from Government to the Calcutta
Mint Committee dated 29th June 1810.
Sent a copy of the recommendations of
the Board of Commissioners on the rate of duty payable by individuals at the
Farrukhabad mint, and the rates proposed for refining such bullion. The
enclosure is not present.
Bengal Consultations, 9th
February 1811. IOR P/7/39, No.23-24.
Letter from the Board of Commissioners
to Government, dated 7th December 1810.
Extensive experiments had been conducted
but the Farrukhabad rupees appeared to weigh what they should
Letter from Donnithorne to Board of
Commissioners, dated
Stated that the weights of the rupees
examined were as they should be.
Bengal Consultations, 18th
October 1811. IOR P/7/46, No.45-47
From the Mint Committee at Bengal to
Government, dated
They explained that some
mis-understanding must have occurred in interpretation of their assay of
Farrukhabad rupees. In fact, although there was some difference between the
highest and lowest weight coins, the average was slightly higher than required.
From the Calcutta Assay Master to the
Calcutta Mint Committee
He explained the above to them.
To the Board of Commissioners to
Government, dated
Explained the same to them and expressed
the belief that Mr Donnithorne would be able to reduce the differences between
the highest and lowest weight coin.
Bengal Consultations, 17th
January 1812. IOR P/7/50, No. 44-46
From the Board of Commissioners to
Government dated 27th April 1810.
In submitting to Government the
accompanying reports on the accounts of the Farrukhabad mint for the years
1807/08 and 1808/09 we take the opportunity as offering it as our opinion that
no objection can now exist to imposing a duty on the coinage carried out for
individuals.
As long as it was an object to withdraw
from circulation the rupees of sorts and to engage the introduction of the new
coinage, any impediment to the measure by a duty at the mint would have been
impediment [?], and it appeared by fair that Government should bear the charge
of bringing into currency the new coinage established by themselves.
In this point of view however, any
further continuance of this exemption of private coinage from duty can be no
longer necessary. No rupees of the old currencies have been for a long time
past brought to the mint and the whole coinage on account of individuals is now
confined to dollars and other bullion…
Auditors report
The number of pieces coined in 1807/08 was 3,398,877
1808/09
was 5,553,341
Nos. 56-59
Several letters essentially agreeing
that the charges should be imposed.
Bengal Consultations, 23rd July
1813. IOR P/8/19, No. 21-23.
Letter from the Calcutta Mint Committee
to Government, dated 9th July 1813.
We have the honor to submit for the
consideration and orders of your Lordship in Council the accompanying copy of a
letter and its enclosure from the Mint Master forwarding and recommending an
application from the foreman of the mint, Mr. W. Da Costa, to be remunerated
for the extra duty of superintending the execution of two complete sets of
machinery for the mints of Farrukhabad and Banaras.
The machinery intended for the
Farrukhabad mint was completed in February 1810, that for the mint at Banaras
in January last, and we have great satisfaction in being able to report that
both sets were finished in a manner highly creditable to Mr Da Costa.
It being usual to consider work of this
kind and as extra duty and to remunerate the foreman of the mint accordingly,
and the sum of 6000 rupees having been granted to Mr Da Costa’s predecessor on
completing an extensive set of machinery for Madras in the year 1806, we beg
leave to recommend that Mr. Da Costa may be allowed the sum of 6000 rupees as a
compensation for the extra duty of superintending the construction of the
machinery for the mints at Farrukhabad and Banaras.
There then follow the two enclosures
mentioned and a letter from Government confirming the award.
Bengal Consultations, 13th
June 1815. IOR P/8/53, No. 18&19.
Invoice dated 30th May 1815.
For rupees from Banaras and Farrukhabad
for each year for the last 20 years as far as possible. The list of old
Farrukhabad rupees is as follows:
Of the year 1st Jeloos 1
2nd 1
4th 1
12 1
14 1
16 1
17 1
18 1
19 1
20 1
21 1
22 1
23 1
24 1
25 1
27 1
28 1
28 1
31 1
39 1
Bengal Consultations, 18th July
1815. IOR P/8/54, No. 23.
From the Farrukhabad Mint Master
(Donnithorne) to the Board of Control, dated
The Commanding Officer of the station
having lately visited the mint, signified his wish that the guard should at all
times be within the wall of the compound instead of living on the outside, and
thereby leaving the charge of the treasure to the few [Sepoys] on duty. The
proposed arrangement is in my opinion a vary salutary one, and I beg leave to
enclose an estimate of the expense which will be incurred in erecting a
building 70 feet long and 14 broad, and solicit the Boards sanction for the
work being immediately commenced on, as the guard together with arms and
accoutrements are exposed to all kinds of weather.
Total cost is Rs 453-4
This was approved by the B of C and
Government.
Bengal Consultations, 9th
November 1816. IOR P/9/17, No. 16.
From the Board of Control to Government,
dated 27th September 1816.
In consequence of the small quantity of
silver which has for some time past been brought to the Farrukhabad mint by
individuals for coinage, we have had it in contemplation to suggest to your
Lordship the expediency of employing that mint in the coinage of copper pice on
account of Government so as to defray from the profits of such coinage the
establishment, which is necessarily kept up for the occasional calls of the
silver coinage.
By sections 43 to 52, Regulation 45,
1803, establishing a copper coin for these provinces, individuals are invited
to bring copper to the mint for the purpose of its being manufactured into pice
of a specified weight and size, but no application of this nature appears to
have ever been made to the mint by any individual and a coinage on account of
Government at the weight there specified of 284½ grains would be productive of
no profit.
On the contrary it would be found that
by throwing into circulation pice of that weight at the prescribed tale of 32
whole and 64 half pice for a rupee, the persons taking them would be supplied
with a maund of copper at the price of only rupees 51 and as the market price
for copper here is seldom less then rupees 68, they might be expected to remelt
immediately the whole of such pice for the sake of so large a profit.
There can, at the same time, be no doubt
that if the weight of the pice were to be reduced so as to assimilate more
nearly the intrinsic value of the coin with the market price of the metal, a
considerable advantage might accrue to Government from the coinage.
We accordingly beg leave to recommend
that the prescribed weight of the Farrukhabad pice be reduced from 142¼ grains
for the single or half pice, to 100, at which weight if delivered into
circulation at the same tale of 64 per rupee, the maund of copper would cost
the parties taking such pice, rupees 72½ and no inducement would remain to them
for remelting the coin.
By a rough calculation, taking the cost
of pure copper to Government, including boat hire to this place, at rupees 52½
per maund and the expenses of manufacturing 5215 planchets of 100 grains each,
which a maund of copper would yield, at rupees 8, the profit to Government on
issuing the pice at 72½ per maund, will be rupees 12 per maund.
We beg leave to observe that the copper
coinage established at Banaras by Regulation X 1809 is fixed at the same rate
which we have here proposed, of 100 grains, and that it appears to have been
very extensively introduced into circulation.
In the event of your Lordship being
pleased to sanction the suggestion, we take the liberty of suggesting that the
Mint Master at Farrukhabad may be furnished with 1000 maunds of copper from the
public stores. In the meantime we have the honor to submit for your Lordship’s
consideration a draft of a regulation for modifying the prescribed weight of
the Farrukhabad copper coinage.
Ordered that 1000 maunds of copper be dispatched
immediately in light boats to the Mint Master at Farrukhabad.
Bengal Consultations, 15th
March 1817. IOR P/9/23, No. 9-10.
Letter to Government from the Board of
Trade dated 7th March 1817.
We have the honor to submit for the
orders of your Excellency in Council the accompanying copies of two letters,
the one from the Mint Master at Farruckabad dated the 5th ultimo
which was transmitted to the Import Warehousekeeper desiring him to state the
means he proposed of meeting the supply of copper indented for by Mr
Donnithorne, the other in reply from Mr Trotter under date the 27th
of he same month stating his inability to furnish beyond 20 maunds in part
supply of the above indent.
We beg leave to submit whether it may
not be advisable to purchase the quantity deficient at the trifling enhanced
cost mentioned by the Import Warehousekeeper.
The letter from the Mint Master and the
Import Warehousekeeper then follow.
Ordered that the Board of Trade be
authorized to instruct the Import Warehousekeeper to purchase the portion of
copper required to complete the quantity applied for by the Mint Master at
Farruckabad.
Bengal Consultations. IOR P/162/70, No
30.
From the Calcutta Mint Master to the
Calcutta Mint Committee dated
Details of treasure amounting to
2.500,000 Rs sent to Farruckabad.
Bengal Consultations. IOR P/162/70, No
48.
Regulation XXVI, 1817. Authorizing the circulation of Farruckabad
rupees coined in either of the mints of Calcutta, Farruckabad or Benaras or at
any other mint established by order of the Governor General in Council.
Whereas it may from time to time be
found expedient to coin rupees of the weight and standard of the Farruckabad
rupee at the mints of Calcutta or Benaras, it has been deemed advisable to
rescind so much of section 2 of Regulation 45 of 1803 as tends to limit the
coinage of Farruckabad rupees to the mint of Farruckabad and to direct that the
following enactment be henceforth in force.
The silver coin denominated the
Farruckabad rupee and of the weight and standard prescribed by section 2 of
Reg. 3 of 1806 struck at the mints of Calcutta, Farruckabad or Benaras or at
any other mint established by order of the Governor General in Council is
hereby declared to be the established legal silver coin in the Ceded and
Conquered Provinces.
Bengal Consultations. IOR P/162/71, No
95.
Letter from H. Swetenham (Acting Mint
Master) to Board of Commissioners, dated
Stated that he could spare some
machinery for Benaras.
Bengal Consultations. IOR P/162/71, No
17.
Letter from Donnithorne (Farruckabad
Mint Master) to Board of Commissioners, dated
|
Date |
Coinage on account of Government |
Coinage on Account of Individuals |
|
1813 |
1,861,795:1:3 |
4,945,355:12:3 |
|
1814 |
2,385,843:14:11 |
647,851:0:2 |
|
1815 |
2,543,247:2:8 |
151,217:11:10 |
|
1816 |
2,764,656:15:1 |
655,644:7:8 |
|
1817 |
5,875,424:0:1 |
1,943,031:2:11 |
|
1818 |
2,890,168:6:1 |
2,190,208:15:9 |
Bengal Consultations. IOR P/162/71, No
18.
Letter to Government from Calcutta Mint
Committee dated 26th July 1819.
Very long letter ending with:
The considerations which we have now the
honor to submit, combined with those already urged in our letter of the 20th
July 1818, induce us to close the subject at present with expressing our
opinion of the expedience of the following arrangements
1st the abolition of the
Benaras rupee
2nd The limitation of the
currency of the Upper Provinces to a rupee of the value of the present
Farruckabad rupee
3rd The carrying into effect
the alteration of the standard of that rupee as already sanctioned.
4th The discontinuance of the
mint at Farruckabad
5th The coinage of the new
Farruckabad rupee at the Benaras mint and consequent improvement and extension
of that establishment. Should these arrangements meet with the approbation of
Government, we conceive it would be found advantageous to give them as early
effect as possible, as the difference of standard at present existing and the
distant situation to which bullion is necessarily sent to be coined into
Farruckabad rupees, entail much inconvenience and expense on the remittance of
treasure to the Upper Provinces on public account. Their enforcement is not
indispensably connected with the following propositions, which do not perhaps
admit of so early a decision.
6th The substitution of the
new Farruckabad rupee for the currencies of the newly acquired territory
7th and the temporary establishment of a mint in
Ajmer and one at Saugor to convert the present currencies into that improved
coin.
Bengal Consultations. IOR P/162/71, No
27
Letter to the Mint Committee from
Government dated 6th August 1819.
Covering letter with a resolution
In conformity with the suggestion of the
Accountant General, the Governor General in Council resolves that the Mint
Master at Calcutta be instructed to affect a remittance of bullion to the
extent of 30 lacs of rupees to the mints of Benaras and Farruckabad in the
proportions proposed by the Accountant General (10 lacs to Banaras, 22 lacs to
Farruckabad), the whole to be coined into the currency of the last mentioned
mint.
It being the intention of Government to
assimilate the standard of the Farruckabad rupee to that of the new Calcutta
rupee, without however making any alteration in the intrinsic value of the
coin, His Lordship in Council further resolves that the above remittance shall
consist of ingots of that standard.
It appears to Government that before
issuing any Farruckabad rupees of the new standard, or making any change in the
rupees coined from bullion tendered by individuals, it will be proper that the
arrangement should be sanctioned by a legislative enactment corresponding with
Regulation 18.1818, with suitable tables annexed. It is at the same time
obviously desirable to avoid any unnecessary multiplication of regulations.
His Lordship in Council entertains,
however, a confident hope that the report, which Government is in instant
expectation of receiving from the Mint Committee, will afford the means of a
final decision being passed in regard to the general currency of the Western
Provinces, that the necessary legislative provisions for giving effect to such
resolutions as may be adopted in that behalf will be passed and published
previously to the period at which the coinage of the above remittance can be
effected, and that consequently no difficulty will be experienced in combining
those provisions with the regulation for the proposed alteration in the
standard of the Farruckabad rupee.
This alteration will not induce any
necessity for altering the diameter of the coin. The new currency may be
sufficiently distinguished by an upright milling without any change to the dye
and this distinctive mark the Mint Masters will be directed to employ.
For the present therefore His Lordship
in Council does not propose to alter the inscription of the Farruckabad rupee.
The Mint Master at Calcutta will transmit to Benaras the requisite number of
dies, and the Accountant General will issue any subsidiary instructions in
regard to the coinage and subsequent disposal of the money, as may appear to
him necessary or proper.
Ordered that a copy of the above
resolution be transmitted to the Accountant General in reply to his letters of
24th ultimo and 3rd instant.
Ordered likewise that a copy be sent to
the Mint Master at Calcutta for his information and guidance, with instructions
also to report at what time he will be prepared to dispatch the proposed
remittance.
Ordered further that a copy be sent to
the Mint Committee with directions to prepare a table of the produce of silver
bullion when coined into Farruckabad rupees of the new standard, in order that
as little delay as practicable may occur in preparing the regulation proposed
to be enacted when the final decision of Government on the questions above
averted to, shall have been passed.
Ordered that an enactment of the above
resolution (paragraph 1) be sent to the Military Department in order that the
measures to be adopted for providing a suitable escort for the treasure may be
taken into immediate consideration, and instructions issued to the officers of
the Commissariat Department to furnish the necessary boats for the conveyance
of the treasure on receiving an application to that effect from the Mint
Master, or to give Mr Saunders any other assistance which he may require.
Information will be hereafter
communicated to that department of the period at which the remittance in
question will be ready for dispatch. As it is to consist of bullion of the
Calcutta standard, little delay is likely to occur beyond that which will be
requisite for providing the necessary boats.
Bengal Consultations. IOR P/162/71, No
33
To the Calcutta Mint Committee from
Government, dated 10th September 1819.
With regard to your letter dated 26th
July, I am directed by the Governor General in Council to transmit to you the
accompanying copy of a resolution this day passed by Government on the subject,
and to request that you will at your earliest convenience take the necessary
measures for giving effect to the orders contained in the 11th
paragraph.
It is understood that the dies recently
sent by the Mint Master at Calcutta to the Benaras mint (being the same that Mr
Saunders had himself used) have a distinct private mark from that borne by the
dies in use at the Farruckabad mint.
You will be pleased to instruct Mr
Saunders to be careful to preserve the same distinction in all dies, which he
may hereafter furnish to the Mint Masters at Benaras or Farruckabad
respectively, distinguishing also by different marks those which he may himself
eventually hereafter use, or which he may have occasion to send to the mint at
Saugor or elsewhere.
Enclosure to 33
In conformity with the suggestion of the
Mint Committee the Governor General in Council resolves
1 That the coinage of the Benaras rupee
be discontinued.
2. That the Farruckabad rupee be
declared the legal currency of the
3. That the standard of the Farruckabad
rupee be assimilated to that of the present Calcutta rupee
4. That the Government will receive
Farruckabad rupees at par with the present Benaras rupees in payment of the
land revenue and in liquidation of all other public demands and will pay them
at the same valuation within the Province of Benaras.
5. That the above rule shall not apply
to bills payable in Benaras rupees and drawn previously to the 1st
January next, nor to sums due to individuals under specific engagements in
Benaras rupees contracted previously to the above date.
6. That after the 1st January
next, all money engagements of which the amount is to be paid within the
Province of Benaras shall be made in the Farruckabad rupee. Engagements at
variance with this rule not to be enforced by any court of judicature.
7. That with regards to engagements
entered into previously to the above date, the Farruckabad rupee shall be held
a legal tender at the rate of 102 ¼ Farruckabad rupees for 100 Banaras rupees.
8. That the mint at Benaras be
constituted on an efficient footing in regard to establishment and machinery,
particularly that a regular Assay Master be attached to it and that the
manufacture be conducted in the manner followed in the Calcutta mint, with such
alteration as more recent improvements may suggest.
9. That the Mint Master at Benaras be
called upon to furnish a full report in the manner in which he now conducts the
various operations of coinage and to state especially what alterations in
regard to the building and machinery will be required for the purpose above
indicated, and with the further object of rendering the powers of the Benaras
mint adequate in their ordinary operation to the entire coinage of the Western
Provinces, and capable of meeting the occasional emergencies of the public
service.
10. That the Farruckabad mint be
continued only during such time as may be found requisite for effecting the
arrangements necessary to the full efficiency of the Benaras mint. The
Farruckabad rupee of the new standard to be in the mean time coined at both
mints with such separate private marks (not discoverable by the naked eye) as
may serve to distinguish the coinage of the several mints.
11. That the Mint Committee be desired
to prepare at their convenience a draft of the legislative rules necessary to
give effect to the above resolutions with proper table for determining the
outturn in Farruckabad rupees of the new standard of bullion brought to the
mints of Benaras and Farruckabad for coinage.
12. The suggestion of the Committee for
rendering the new Farruckabad rupee the currency of the newly acquired
territory and for establishing temporarily at least, mints at Saugor and Ajmere
appear likewise to be judicious.
13. The coinage at Saugor is apparently
likely to be considerable, and the mint there ought therefore to be placed on
an efficient footing.
14. The immediate superintendence of the
mint could probably be undertaken by the Assistant to the Resident if aided by
an intelligent foreman. It seems, however, indispensably necessary that a
distinct officer properly qualified should be appointed to the charge of the
assay department and an entire set of machinery must be previously prepared.
15. Some delay must consequently occur
in completing the arrangement. In the meantime the Governor General’s agent
will be directed to report specifically the nature of the establishment which
he may judge it advisable to entertain with reference to the above remarks and
to the objects proposed by the Committee in constituting a committee at Saugor.
He will likewise report the extent of coinage for which it may appear to him
necessary to provide machinery. The question how far any and what direct measures
shall be adopted for preventing or limiting the operations of native mints with
a view to the general reform of the currency in the new acquisitions will be
further considered in the political department.
16. With regard to Ajmere, the
operations of the mint there are likely to be less important, and any
resolution in regard to it may be postponed until the information, which the
Committee have called for, have been received. The consideration of the subject
will then be renewed.
Bengal Consultations. IOR P/162/71, No
34.
Letter from the Calcutta Mint Committee
to the Calcutta Mint Master (Saunders) dated 20th September 1819.
I am desired by the Committee for
superintending the affairs of the mint at this Presidency to inform you that by
a resolution of Government passed on the 10th instant the coinage of
Benaras rupees has been discontinued and that Farruckabad rupees only, of their
present value and impression but of the standard of the new Calcutta rupee, are
in future to be coined at the mints of Benaras and Farruckabad.
As a regulation to carry the above into
effect is nor in the course of preparation, to which it will be necessary to
annex a table of the rates of produce in the new Farruckabad rupees, you will
at your earliest convenience supply the Committee with such a table calculated
in every respect upon the same principles as those adopted for the table
prepared upon the change of the standard of the currency for the rupees of
Calcutta coinage.
I am also instructed to call the
particular attention of the Mint Master to the adoption of some private marks
upon the dies he may hereafter send to Benaras or Farruckabad or to any other
mint that may be hereafter eventually established to coin the same rupees as
well as to those he may prepare for the occasional coinage of Farruckabad
rupees at Calcutta, so that he may be able at any future period to distinguish
the mint at which Farruckabad rupees, struck from the dies he may have
furnished, have been coined.
Bengal Consultations. IOR P/162/71, No
38 enclosure.
Draft regulation from Calcutta Mint
Committee to Government, dated 10th October 1819.
A regulation for discontinuing the
coinage of the Benaras rupee, for declaring the Farruckabad rupee the legal
currency of the Province of Benaras, for altering the standard of the
Farruckabad rupee and for defining the rate at which that rupee is to be received
within the Province of Benaras.
The existance of different local
currencies in a country subject to one common authority must obviously impede
that constant intercourse by which its several provinces are necessarily
connected, and considerable inconvenience from that cause has been experienced
in the intercourse between the several provinces subordinate to this
Presidency. Great difficulties however, oppose the immediate establishment of
one currency throughout all these provinces. On the one hand the Calcutta sicca
rupee having been long established throughout the extensive provinces of
Bengal, Behar and Orissa, all private engagements have been made in that coin,
the land revenue is payable by the Zamindars, which (with partial exceptions)
has been fixed in perpetuity throughout those provinces, as well as the whole
of the registered debt of this country, are likewise expressed in the Calcutta
rupee. Any alteration in its value would therefore occasion great embarrassment
and perplexity. On the other hand the Farruckabad rupee forms the currency of
the whole of the Ceded and Conquered Provinces and the influence of any change
in regard to it would be proportionably important and extensive. In it all
payments on account of the public revenue within these provinces are received
and the pay of the troops and of all public establishments therein stationed is
discharged. The price of articles of ordinary consumption has necessarily been
regulated with reference to the local coin. If therefore the Calcutta sicca
rupee were rendered the local currency of those provinces, while Government
must of course allow the Zemindars an abatement in their revenue equivalent to
the difference between the Calcutta and Farruckabad rupee and would therefore
be compelled to issue the former at its intrinsic value, the troops and other
public establishments might be subject, temporarily at least, to considerable
loss and inconvenience by receiving payment in a coin that might not
immediately bear its full value in the market compared with articles of
ordinary consumption. It has thence appeared necessary, for the present at
least, to maintain the currencies now established in the provinces of Bengal,
Behar and Orissa and in the Ceded and Conquered Provinces respectively. The
legal circulation of the Benaras rupee is confined to a single province. That
coin has long been issued to the troops and other public establishments as
equivalent to the Farruckabad rupee. It circulates generally at par with that
rupee when employed beyond the limits of the province of Benaras, tho’
exceeding it in value to the extent of 2¼ per cent.
The land revenue of Benaras is indeed,
like that of Bengal, Behar and Orissa, fixed in perpetuity, and any alteration
in the nominal amount of the jumma being likely to lead to serious
misapprehension, Government deem it right in introducing into Benaras the
inferior currency of the Western Provinces, to relinquish the claim, which they
might in strictness assert, to the difference between the two rupees, rather
then to give the slightest occasion for any doubt or alarm in regard to the
stability of an arrangement guaranteed by the public faith. The amount however,
of the land revenue in question is comparatively limited and the public
advantage likely to result from a simplification of the currencies of those
provinces appears to counterbalance the partial loss which Government must
sustain in receiving the Farruckabad rupee at par with the Benaras rupee. The
adjustment of private engagements in a single province will be comparatively
easy, and while the community will be saved from the loss which they have heretofore
sustained whenever they carried the Banaras rupee beyond the limits of that
province, the difference between the two coins amounting only to 2 ¼ per cent
will have little or no perceptible influence on the market price of articles
consumed by the lower orders or people, more especially since the value of the
two rupees in copper money has for some time past become equalized. It appears
therefore that the discontinuance of the coinage of the Benaras rupee, whilst
it will greatly simplify the monetary system of this Presidency and will
otherwise essentially promote the trade and general prosperity of the country,
will be attended with little inconvenience and that only temporary and partial.
The Governor General in Council has accordingly resolved to limit the legal
currencies in the territories subordinate to this Presidency to two, namely the
Calcutta and Farruckabad rupee. With the view of still further simplifying the
system of coinage in the said territories and of facilitating the conversion of
the above mentioned currencies for the one into the other, it has been also
determined to reduce them to one general standard, so that tho’ differing in
intrinsic value, yet will contain the same proportions of pure metal and alloy,
no charge for recoinage nor the trouble of adjusting the standard will be
incurred in the coinage of the one currency into the other.
To give effect to the above arrangements
and at the same time to fix the rate at which the Farruckabad rupee is to be
received in the province of Benaras in liquidation of existing arrangements
between individuals, the following rules have been enacted by the Governor
General in Council.
The coinage of the Benaras rupee shall
be discontinued from the date of this regulation.
The Farruckabad rupee shall be
considered the legal currency of the province of Benaras.
The Farruckabad rupee shall be a legal
tender in all the territories under the Bengal Government, with the exception
of Bengal, Behar and Orissa, whether struck at the mints of Calcutta, Benaras
or Farruckabad or at any other mint that may be hereafter established within
the aforesaid limits under the authority of British Government.
The Farruckabad rupee, to be struck at
any of the mints before mentioned, shall be of the value of the present
Farruckabad rupee, and of the standard of the present Calcutta rupee. That is
to say it shall be of the following weight and fineness
|
Weight |
Troy grains 180,234 |
|
Pure Silver |
165,215 |
|
Alloy |
15,019 |
Being 11/12th pure and 1/12th
alloy.
Individuals bringing bullion for coinage
into the new Farruckabad rupee, to either of the mints above specified, shall
have it so coined, agreeably to the rates of charge and produce, stated in the
accompanying table.
Individuals bringing to the same mints,
Calcutta, Benaras, or Farruckabad, rupees either of the old or new coinage, but
coined at one of the Honble Company’s mints, shall have them converted into the
new Farruckabad rupee at a total charge of no more than one per cent.
Government will receive the Farruckabad
rupees of the old or new standard, at par with the present Benaras rupees, in
payment of the land revenue, and in liquidation of all other public demands,
and will pay them at the same valuation within the province of Benaras.
The preceding rule shall not apply to
bills payable in Benaras rupees and drawn previously to the 1st
January next (1820) nor to sums due to individuals under specific engagements
in Banaras rupees contracted previously to that date.
Bonds or other engagements and all
agreements written or verbal which may be entered into within the province of
Benaras after 1st January 1820 shall be expressed in the Farruckabad
rupees, and if any such deed or agreement shall stipulate for the payment of
Benaras rupees, such stipulation shall not be enforced by the Court of
Judicature, but the amount shall be payable in Farruckabad rupees at par with
the Benaras rupee.
With regard to engagements entered into
previously to the 1st January next, the Farruckabad rupee shall be
held a legal tender at the rate of 102 ¼ Farruckabad rupees for 100 Benaras
rupees
All the rules affecting the coinage of
the mint of Benaras and Farruckabad which are not abrogated by the foregoing
enactments, shall continue in force.
Bengal Consultations. IOR P/162/71, No
58.
Letter from Government to the Calcutta
Mint Committee dated 17th December 1819.
I am directed by His Excellency the Most
Noble the Governor General in Council to acknowledge the receipt of your letter
of the 10th October last and to inform you that his Lordship in
Council approves the draft of regulation submitted by you, with the
substitution of the 1st of March for the 1st of January
in sections IX, X & XI of the draft.
Bengal Consultations. IOR P/162/71, No
119.
Letter to Government from Mint
Committee, dated 22nd June 1820.
We have the honor to acknowledge the
receipt of the copy of a letter and its enclosure from the Board of
Commissioners in the Western Provinces, bearing the date the 23rd
February last, detailing the advantages which accrue to individuals from the
privilege granted to them by sections 46, 47 & 48 of regulation 45 of 1803,
of having copper coined into money free of charge and proposing the imposition
of certain duties on copper brought to the mint for coinage.
We beg to state that at no other mint
than the Farruckabad mint has a copper coinage been allowed on account of
individuals and we are of the opinion that it should no longer be allowed at
that mint. Peculiar circumstances may have led to the sanction of such a
measure in 1803 soon after the establishment of a mint in that new territory,
but it has we believe been the practice of all Governments to issue copper coin
exclusively on its own account and at a rate above its intrinsic value as the
only means of obviating the effects of those alterations to which the market
value of that metal is subject. From this principle it will appear that
individuals cannot be allowed to tender copper for coinage at pleasure without
much inconvenience to the state.
We beg leave therefore to suggest that
sections 46, 47 & 48 Regulation 45 of 1803 be rescinded, and to submit the
accompanying copy of a regulation for that purpose.
A Regulation for rescinding sections 46,
47 & 48, Regulation XLV 1803
Whereas it being deemed no longer
expedient to continue to [allow] individuals the privilege of tendering copper
at the mint at Farruckabad, the following rule has been enacted to be in force
from the date of its promulgation.
Sections XLVI, XLVII and XLVIII,
Regulation XLV, 1803, are hereby rescinded.
Bengal Consultations. IOR P/162/71, No
143.
Letter from Government to the Calcutta
Mint Committee dated
I am directed by His Excellency the Most
Noble the Governor General in Council to acknowledge receipt of your letter of
the 22nd June last, transmitting draft of a regulation for
rescinding section 46, 47 and 48, Regulation XLV of 1803.
The sentiments of Government concur with
those expressed by your committee and the regulation proposed by you will be
immediately passed.
Bengal Consultations. IOR P/162/72, No
18.
Letter from HH Wilson to Calcutta Mint
Committee
Having in compliance with the orders of
Government conveyed to me by your secretary’s letter of 17th
September 1820, visited the mint of Farrukhabad previous to my return to the
Presidency, I have the honor to present a report of the mode of conducting the
duties of the mint, the details of which are derived from the official records
accompanying and the opportunities of personal observations afforded me by my
visit to Farruckabad.
Bengal Consultations. IOR P/162/72, No
24.
To Government from the Calcutta Mint
Committee, 3rd April 1821.
We have the honor to submit for the
information of Your Lordship in Council the accompanying copy of a report on
the Farruckabad mint which has been forwarded to us by Mr Wilson on his return
after visiting that establishment under the orders of Government of the 8th
September 1820.
We have formerly had occasion to express
our opinion of the inexpediency of continuing to maintain a mint at Farruckabad
beyond the period when the Benares mint shall be rendered fully efficient and
this opinion is much confirmed by the results exhibited in this report, for it
appears that the net charges of the Farruckabad mint during the period embraced
in Mr Wilson’s review of its operations, namely eight years, have averaged
above 54,000 rupees a year owing to the comparatively trifling amount of private
bullion which has been brought to it for coinage within that period. This
establishment has in fact been mainly employed in either coining remittances of
bullion sent to Farruckabad in aid of the resources of the Western Provinces or
in recoining the mixed local currencies of those provinces. But public
remittances to any large amount will (we understand) no longer be required in
that quarter and the amount of rupees of sorts formerly in circulation id now
so much diminished that the mint of Benares when put on its proposed footing
will be fully adequate to the purpose of recoining them. We beg leave therefore
to suggest that every means may be used to expedite the building of the new
mint at Benares with a view to the abolition of the Farruckabad mint and to a
consequent saving of the heavy charge as stated above of that establishment.
The process of melting in the
Farruckabad mint has been conducted we are happy to observe, on very economical
terms. The rate of loss is little more than half that admitted in Calcutta and
less then half that incurred at Benares. The circumstance we shall immediately
bring to the notice of the Mint Masters of these two mints with a view to a
like reduction of the melting loss in their respective establishments.
The fixed establishment charges of the
Farruckabad mint are upon as low a scale as is compatible with the proper
conduct of the business of the mint. The contingent charges however seem to be
a very undue proportion of the whole. They exceed, it appears from the report,
10 annas per cent upon the coinage of the last eight years and are therefore
much higher even that those of the Calcutta mint, although we regret to remark
that the latter were considerably higher in1818/19 and 1819/20 then formerly,
the contingent charges for 4 years ending 1817/18 averaging less than 4 annas
per cent, and in the following two years exceeding 6 annas per cent. It seems
indeed very difficult to adopted any satisfactory system of check over this
branch of the mint expenses consisting as they do of an immense number of
trifling items mostly of a local and technical nature and not reducible to any
fixed scale or standard.
Although however the nature of the case
may not admit of any complete check, it is not the less desirable to adopt that
system which may appear to be most likely to prove effectual.
The annual audit of the charges of the
Calcutta mint sanctioned by Government of the 13th October 1805,
does not appear to have answered the purpose contemplated and has fallen into
disuse since the year 1813. We conceive indeed that the contingent charges of
any one mint cannot be duly appreciated without a careful and regular
comparison of the details of different establishments during different periods,
and this comparison will otherwise be useful.
Hence we are persuaded that the audit of
mint charges can be satisfactorily attempted at the Presidency only unless the
Provincial Boards were furnished with a special establishment for the purpose,
and with various information to which they have not access, and we also think
the accounts should be audited more frequently than once a year.
We would recommend therefore that the
Mint Masters of Calcutta, Benares, Farruckabad and Saugor should be directed to
forward to the Civil Auditors quarterly accounts of the amount coined, the
coinage charges and contingent expenses at those mints respectively, the audit
of which to be submitted by him to our committee for any remarks which may appear
necessary before they are finally passed by Government.
We doubt not indeed that the Boards will
be well pleased to be relieved from any concern with the mint accounts and
expenditure. They may still continue to exercise a general authority in regard
to matters touching the interest of individuals if any such connected with the
operation of the mint shall arise which would not more properly fall under the
cognizance of the Financial Department, and we do not conceive that it will be
necessary to make any alteration in the legislative provisions applicable to
the mints of Farruckabad and Benares.
Boards Collections. IOR
F/4/833, No 22121/22122. p514. No 3
Report
from HH Wilson on the operation of the Farrukhabad mint, dated March 10th
1821
Very detailed description of the
operation of the Farrukhabad mint at this time. Also
contains details of the output of the mint by year from 1813 to 1820.
Letter to Calcutta Mint Committee from
Government, 8th June 1821.
I am directed by His Excellency the Most
Noble the Governor General in Council to inform you that His Lordship in
Council has been pleased to permit Mr Alexander Melville, the Assay Master at
the Farruckabad mint, to be absent from his station for a period of six months
for the recovery of his health.
The Governor General in Council has been
pleased to appoint Captain D Presgrave to officiate as Assay Master during the
absence of Mr Melville with an extra allowance of Rs 300 per mensum.
Bengal Consultations. IOR P/162/72, No
52.
From Presgrave to Calcutta Mint
Committee, 11th June 1821.
Having been directed to proceed to the
Farruckabad mint to take charge of the
assay office at that station, I beg to procure through you the sanction of
Government to my engaging a baggage boat for the conveyance of such implements
as will be required at that office.
Your Committee is aware I believe that
the assay office of the Farruckabad mint is very defectively supplied with
apparatus used in assaying. My services will be therefore much embarrassed
unless that defect be supplied. The subjoined articles were prepared for the
Assay Office of the Saugor mint and as they are not immediately required in
that direction, I hope I may be permitted to take them with me and use them at
Farrukhabad during the period of my stay there.
As these articles from their weight will
require a boat to be appropriated to their reception it would afford a not
unfavourable opportunity for the conveyance of one of the new cutting machines
and milling tables prepared for the Saugor mint. They will add but little to
the package and they may possibly be found very serviceable at the Farruckabad
mint. The whole will not require probably a boat of more than 300 maunds and
consequently will not tend in any way to retard my progress.
2
large assay furnaces
50
Europe fire bricks
Assay
beam and scales
Glazed
box for scales
Two
cases for assays
Two
iron trays for assays
Anvil,
tongs, pokers etc
One
new cutting machine
One
milling table
Cupel
moulds
Bengal Consultations. IOR P/162/72, No
53.
Letter to Government from the Calcutta
Mint Committee, 12th June 1821.
We have the honor to forward the
accompanying letter from Captain Presgrave requesting permission to take with
him to the Farruckabad mint the articles prepared fro the use of the assay
office of the Saugor mint and a cutting and milling machine from those prepared
for that mint, and to be allowed the hire of a boat for their conveyance.
The report on the Farruckabad mint
lately submitted to Government will have shown the necessity of supplying the
assay office there with an appropriate apparatus and we conceive therefore it
will be highly advisable for Captain Presgrave to carry with him the articles
required for that office. The cutting and milling machines are less
indispensable but as they are not very bulky and as Captain Presgrave’s taking
them with him to the Farruckabad mint may enable him at his leisure to test and
approve their applicability to the objects of their fabrication, we are
disposed to think he may be allowed to add them to the articles intended for
the assay office. In the event of the permission being granted he will of
course be apprised that he must engage a light boat and one of little draft so
that his progress may not be in any manner retarded.
We take this opportunity of recommending
that the machinery for the Saugor mint, the conveyance of which by the present
opportunity would too much delay Captain Presgrave’s journey, be deposited in
the arsenal go-downs until it is requested at Saugor when it can be sent up the
country with the first dispatch of military stores.
Bengal Consultations. IOR P/162/72, No
56.
Letter from the Mint Committee to
Presgrave, 19th June 1821.
I am directed by the Committee for
superintending the affairs of the mint at the Presidency to acknowledge your
letter of the 11th instant and in reply to forward for your
information the following extract from a letter from the secretary to
Government in the Financial Department of the 15th instant addressed
to the Committee.
‘The Governor General in Council concurs
with your committee in thinking that Captain Presgrave should carry with him to
Farruckabad the articles specified in the text annexed to his letter, and
authorises that officer to hire a boat for the conveyance of them. Captain
Presgrave will of course use every exertion to reach Farruckabad with all
practicable expedition’.
Bengal consultations. IOR P/162/72, No
66.
Letter to Calcutta Mint Committee from
Government, 10th August 1821.
I am directed by His Excellency the Most
Noble the Governor General in Council to acknowledge the receipt of your letter
of the 3rd April last with the several papers mentioned to accompany
it.
The papers submitted by Mr Wilson appear
to embrace every necessary information in regard to the operations of the
Farruckabad mint and under the present circumstances the practical conclusions
resulting from the statements are less important than they would have been at
an earlier period. The possession of such a review is still highly satisfactory
and useful.
The alteration prescribed by Regulation
XI, 1819, in the standard of the coinage renders it unnecessary to enter now
into the question of the refining charges, and the provisions of the law
relative to the receipt of bullion tendered for coinage, being observed, it
would apparently be useless to refer to past irregularities.
His Lordship in Council trusts that the
suggestions of Mr Wilson will have led to considerable improvement in the assay
office and Captain Presgrave, in assuming charge of the office, will naturally
be guided as far as practicable by the principles in which he has been
instructed at Calcutta.
It is satisfactory to observe that the
process of melting has been conducted on very economical terms, so as to have
led your committee to expect that an improvement in that respect may be
effected at Calcutta and Benares. There is thus shown an obvious advantage in
examining the operations of the several mints, with a comparative reference
from one to another, and this principle obviously applies with particular force
to disbursements of the nature of those included under the head of contingent
charges.
His Lordship in Council entirely
therefore approves the suggestion contained in the 8th paragraph of
your report and resolves that it should be immediately carried into effect in
regard to the mints at Farruckabad and Benares.
The same course will be pursued in
respect to the mint at Saugor, , when that establishment shall be regularly
brought into operation.
The necessary communication will
accordingly be made to the two revenue boards, and the Civil Auditor, and you
will be pleased to convey to the last mentioned officer such directions in
regard to the forms of the accounts to be rendered as may appear to you
necessary or useful.
Bengal Consultations. IOR P/162/73, No 2
To the secretary to the Board of
Commissioners at Farruckabad from the Calcutta Mint Committee,
I am directed by the Committee for
superintending the affairs of the mint at this Presidency to request your
procuring the orders of the Board of Commissioners for the transmission of the
laminating machines now at the Farruckabad mint to the Benares mint as it is
not likely to be required at the former.
The Mint Committee understands that a
set of laminating machinery prepared for the mint at Dehli is also at the
Farruckabad mint and direct that that set be likewise forwarded to Benares.
Bengal Consultations. IOR P/162/73, No
124.
Letter from the Calcutta Mint Committee
to Government, 8th November 1823.
We have the honor to acknowledge the
letter of the Secretary to Government in the Territorial Department dated the
31st ultimo, forwarding to us the report of the Superintendent of
Public Buildings announcing the advanced state of the Benares mint and calling
upon us to give our opinion respecting the expediency of abolishing the mint at
Farruckabad.
The abolition of the mint at Farruckabad
was first suggested on general grounds by the Mint Committee in their letter to
Government dated the 28th July 1818. In the following year (26th
July 1819) the measure was further recommended on special consideration, it
appearing that the average net charge of the Farruckabad mint had been for the
preceding 6 years, 59000 rupees a year. No more than 18 lacs had formed the
preparation of coinage on individuals’ account.
In our letter to Government of the 3rd
April 1821 forwarding the report of Mr Wilson on the Farruckabad mint, we had
occasion to repeat the same recommendation founded on the continuance of the
same circumstances, the low amount of private coinage and high average of net
charges, anticipating also from the extended powers of the Benares mint when
completed, ample means of effecting the recoinage on public account of such
mixed currencies as still circulated in the Upper Provinces.
Although we had no reason to expect that
the views taken by us on these occasions were inapplicable to more recent
occurrences, yet in order to rest our opinion on secure grounds we have
obtained from the Accountant General a statement of the proceedings of the
Farruckabad mint subsequent to the date of our lat communication or for the
years 1820/21 to 1822/23. From this it appears that the average of the
individuals’ coinage for the last three years has continued to be but 18 lacs a
year, that in the third of these years it was less than 18 lacs and that it may
be expected to be still less in the current year, 1823/24, the first four
months having coined but 41,000 rupees. The expenses of the Farruckabad mint
have continued to bear much the same proportion as formerly, and the average
net charge of the period under review is above 51,000 rupees per year.
Under the circumstances therefore we
have only to repeat the opinion we have already expressed and to recommend the
abolition of the Farruckabad mint as appearing to us to be no longer necessary
for the accommodation of individual commerce nor essential to the convenience
of Government in any proportion to the annual expense it entails. The Benares
mint will be now fully adequate to this latter object as far as the old
provinces are concerned, and the temporary demand which may be expected in
those newly acquired will of course be more expeditiously and economically met
by the subsidiary mint at Saugor. This mint we presume must be equally forward
with that [at] Benares and perhaps it may be found expedient to transfer to it
some of the apparatus and establishment of the Farruckabad mint when no longer
required at that station.
|
|
Coinage for Individuals |
Coinage for Government |
Copper Coinage |
|
1820/21 |
2,030,507 |
3,459,066 |
0 |
|
1821/22 |
2,714,092 |
2,710,807 |
0 |
|
1822/23 |
794,043 |
180,476 |
0 |
|
1823/24 (1st 4 months) |
41,612 |
5639 |
0 |
Bengal Consultations. IOR P/162/74, No
151
Letter from the Calcutta Mint Committee
to Government,
We have the honor to acknowledge the
receipt of Mr Secretary Mackenzie’s letter of the 28th November 1823
with its enclosure.
Under the circumstances stated in the
letter of the Accountant General of the 21st November with reference
to the three coinages of Madras, Bombay and Farruckabad we are of opinion that
it would be advisable to bring the Bombay rupee to the same standard in weight
and value with that of Madras. From the slight difference at present existing
between the two, we imagine that no difficulty or public inconvenience would
result from the adoption of such a measure.
With regard to the Farruckabad rupee we
beg to state that the standard is already the same as that of the Madras rupee
and in a practical view of the subject it may likewise be considered equal in
weight and value since it differs only by an excess of 234/1000th
part of a grain, a difference too inconsiderable to be regarded in any ordinary
transactions.
It appears therefore inexpedient to make
any formal alteration in the law relative to the Farruckabad rupee, at least
until the erection of the new mint, when the general question of the India
coinage may probably come under review.
It appears to merit consideration
whether it would not be expedient for the Governors of Madras and Bombay to
make the Farruckabad rupee current at par with their own rupees throughout the
territories subordinate to those Presidencies. Considerable facilities would
thus be afforded to the Government of Bengal in furnishing supplies to Fort St
George and Bombay out of the surplus of the Western Provinces, and the
Farruckabad rupee, tho’ slightly in excess of the others, no objection is
likely to be started against the receipt of it.
Bengal Consultations. IOR P/162/74, No
220.
From Calcutta Mint Committee to H
Newnham (Collector of Farruckabad) dated 30th April 1824.
I am directed by the Committee for
superintending the affairs of the mint at this Presidency to request you will
on receipt of this letter stop the operations of the mint under your charge and
pack up and transmit with Captain Presgrave to Saugor such part of the
Farruckabad mint machinery as may appear necessary or useful to him for the
Saugor mint.
I am also directed to inform you that
Captain Presgrave has been authorised to select such artificers as he considers
calculated to assist him in the operations of the Saugor mint.
Bengal Consultations. IOR P/162/74,
No221.
Letter from the Calcutta Mint Committee
to Presgrave,
I am directed by the Committee for
superintending the affairs of the mint at this Presidency to inform you that Mr
H Newnham, the Collector of Farruckabad, has been requested to pack up and
transmit to Saugor such part of the Farruckabad mint as you may consider
necessary or useful for the Saugor mint and to authorise you to such artificers
as you may wish to transfer to Saugor.
In regard to your own movements you will
be pleased to communicate on the subject with Mr C Malony, Agent to the
Governor General at Saugor.
Mr Blake being unwilling to proceed to
Saugor, his services will accordingly be dispensed with.
Bengal Consultations. IOR P/162/74, No
249.
Letter from Newnham to Calcutta Mint
Committee,
He states that he has had only two
months experience as Mint Master and:
I had no sort of wish to be involved in
the responsibility of closing an old concern and discharging the hundreds of
people who have been connected with an establishment which was local with the
Patan Dynasty at Farruckabad.
Later he goes on:
The regular establishment is another
subject for your instructions. Until all is arranged and the stock cleared out
many must be retained on their responsibility. Some are also grown old and
infirm in the Company’s employ, some look for pensions in common invalid
servants [this bit doesn’t make much sense], and it is not the usual custom of
the British Government to suddenly throw people out of bread. Perhaps a
donation may be extended to all…
Bengal Consultations. IOR P/162/74, No
262.
From Presgrave to the Calcutta Mint
Committee, 17th June 1824.
I have the honor to acquaint you, for
the information of the Mint Committee, that in conformity with the instructions
contained in your letter I have selected from the Farruckabad mint machinery
and tools what I consider useful and necessary for the mint at Saugor.
Mr Newnham has retained some of the new
Farruckabad standard sicca weights, he informs me, for the use of the
Collector’s Office, with the only sets of Benares scales which were in use for
weighing the coinage and bullion, the privation of which, unless replaced from
Calcutta, must occasion inconvenience to the new mint.
There are three large chests (belonging
to the mint) which have always been in use for containing bullion and coin. One
of them is particularly well constructed and adapted to the use of the mint.
These Mr Newnham has also declined transferring to Saugor stating that he
requires them for the Collector’s treasury, & further that your letter
authorises merely the selection of machinery. With the same argument he might
have objected to the transfer of many other article consisting of artificers,
tools etc, but judging from the nature of the case, it appears to me that your
letter was intended to convey a more general meaning and not o be taken in the
limited construction Mr Newnham has put upon it. The making of new ones at
Saugor will be both inconvenient & very expensive, whereas chests of any
description may from the facility of procuring workmen and materials be easily
had at Farruckabad.
I am very sorry to state that I have
been greatly disappointed in not being able to procure artificers from the late
mint establishment. There are few who offer themselves and these at
extravagantly high wages. Men who received eight rupees unconscionably ask
twenty & even thirty rupees a month. Blacksmiths and carpenters,
particularly the former, are indispensably necessary, but in consequence of
these high demands, I shall entertain none till I receive further instructions
on the subject.
I have been informed from the Barrack
Masters department the masons and carpenters are all supplied for the Saugor
division from Cawnpore & this place, that head men receive sixteen &
secondary ones ten each. Such workmen would only earn here seven or eight and
five or six rupees a month.
On what was termed the permanent
establishment there were only two artificers borne, Viz a smith and a carpenter
at twelve rupees a month. All others, although borne on what was designated the
contingent establishment were in point of fact as permanently employed as the
two men above mentioned.
Any number of artificers can be procured
here on emergency, but at Saugor it will (at present) be otherwise, as none are
procurable amongst the natives of the country. It will therefore, I should
think, be necessary to take from this place such an establishment as will be
required to perform the work of the mint.
With the Assay Office establishment I am
in much the same predicament as with the mint artificers, all of them demanding
higher wages. I have in consequence only been able to retain the following Viz
A muffle maker or potter
A Cooley
Two chhrasses
Two classes
A Bhistee
A sweeper
I have, as desired in your letter, addressed Mr Malony,
Agent to the Governor General at Saugor, and am in daily expectation of
receiving his instructions.
Bengal Consultations. IOR P/162/74, No
260
Letter from
…With regard to the workmen of the late
mint establishment, I am directed to observe that such of them as may wish to
continue in the employ of Government under the sanction of Captain Presgrave
will be transferred to the Saugor mint. You will accordingly make the necessary
arrangements and report the result for the information of the Committee. You
are at the same time requested to submit a statement of the names of those who
are averse to further employment whom you may consider entitled to pensions, and
detail the particulars of their past services, age and what property each
individual may be possessed of.
To Presgrave from the
… The orders contained in my letter of
30th April last were intended to authorize you to select from the
late Farruckabad mint such parts of the machinery as you might consider
necessary for the Saugor mint, including, of course, such articles appertaining
to the former mint as you might be desirous of transferring to the Saugor mint.
Instructions will accordingly be issued to Mr Newnham to that effect.
The committee do not feel authorized to
sanction your entertaining any workman on an enhanced rate of wages and they
are led to believe you will experience no difficulty in procuring fit men at
Saugor willing to engage on the same terms as those lately employed at the
Farruckabad mint. The committee are further of opinion that it is unnecessary
to transfer, at advanced wages, the officers mentioned in the 9th
paragraph of your letter, with the exception of the muffle maker, as they
imagine people of that description will at all times be procurable at Saugor.
Bengal Consultations. IOR P/162/74, No
274
From Newnham to Calcutta Mint Master
dated 24th July 1824.
States that he needs the scales and
weights and that new ones should be sent to Saugor from Calcutta. As to the
chests, they are very heavy and the cost of transport to Saugor would be high.
He also suggests that the mint bungalow should be used as a treasury because it
was very secure.
Attached to the letter is a list of the
equipment to be taken to Saugor. The list was prepared by R. Blake, Foreman to
the late mint at Farruckabad.
Bengal Consultations. IOR P/162/74, Nos
282,283,284
Letters from Calcutta Mint Committee to
first Newnham, second Newnham, third Presgrave all dated
The first letter informs Newnham that he
can keep the weights, scales & chests. The third letter informs Presgrave
of this fact. The second states that they see no reason why the mint bungalow
should not be used as a secure place for the treasury.
Bengal Consultations. IOR P/162/74, No
297
Letter from the
Copy of a letter authorizing the
appropriation of the mint bungalow to the Farruckabad Collectorate.
Letter from Newnham to
He states that he has not heard from
them with regards to Blake, who will be needed to help load the remaining
machinery, which is to be sent to
The enclosures include:
Letter from Government to Blake,
I am directed by His Excellency the Most
Noble the Governor General in Council to inform you that his Lordship in
Council has this day been pleased to appoint you to the situation of Foremen of
the Farruckabad mint in the room of Mr Stacy, deceased.
There is also a list of all the
employees giving name, age, length of service, wages etc.
E.g. Bishendass, Darogah, paid 50
Rs/month, started 1807 for 18 years, aged 70, From 1807 to 1817 he was employed
as a Darogah in the melting department at 35 Rs per month & from 1818
succeeded Thaskoordass as Darogah.
From
…The Committee having understood that on
the abolition of the Farruckabad mint Mr Blake declined proceeding to Saugor
[?] dispensed with his service as per letter to Captain Presgrave of the 30th
April last, and you are accordingly directed to pay his salary up to the latest
period to which he may be actually employed by you…
… I am further directed to acquaint you
that orders will hereafter be communicated to you respecting the pensions to be
granted to the native officers who have been discharged consequent to the
abolition of the Farruckabad mint.
From the
Letter to Government recommending that
all mint employees aged over 50 should be given a pension based n ‘the rules
prescribed by the Governor General in Council in the Judicial Department dated
1st October 1819’.
Bengal Consultations. IOR P/162/75, No
8.
Letter from Newnham (late MM at
Farruckabad) to Calcutta Mint Committee, 6th January 1825.
I have the honor to acknowledge the
receipt of your letter and to submit for your consideration copy of one
addressed to me by Mr Blake.
No intention of your Committee to employ
Mr Blake at Saugor in a situation correspondent to that which he held at the
Farruckabad mint has ever been made known to me.
The length of Mr Blake’s immediate
services and respect to his father who was for nearly half a century in the
employ of the Honble Company appears to me to merit due consideration. As no
official discharge has been notified to Mr Blake he must of course be entitled
to his salary, nor can I suppose that Government in any case permanently
entertain a person in a distinct line of employment on any known or implied
acknowledgement that the occupation may be suddenly withdrawn unless on proof
of misconduct.
I enclose also copies of petitions from
the higher class of native officers of the mint which were by mistake omitted
in my last letter.
There then follows a letter from Blake which could be
interpreted to indicate that he is the son of the original one.
From
I am instructed by the Committee for
superintending the affairs of the mint at this Presidency to acknowledge the
receipt of your letter dated the 6th instant with its enclosures,
being copy of a letter from Mr Blake and two Persian petitions.
Should the age of the petitioner Surroop
Chunder Base exceed 50 years his case will be referred to Government for a
pension under the existing rules, and you will accordingly be good enough to
furnish the prescribed certificates.
You will be pleased to ascertain distinctly from Mr Blake
whether and on what terms he may be desired of being transferred to Saugor. As
far back as April last, the Committee were in possession of documents in which
that officer clearly stated that he could not proceed whither and under that
impression directed his dismissal from the mint lately under your authority.
The date of the abolition of the Farruckabad mint must be considered as the
period of Mr Blake’s official discharge and you will accordingly dismiss him,
should he still refuse to go to Saugor. But if he has been retained on any
specific duty subsequent to that time, you are authorised to pay his salary up
to the latest period to which he may have been employed as directed in the 2nd
para of your letter of the 9th ultimo.
Letter from Government to the Mint
Committee dated
I am directed by the Right Honble the
Governor General in Council to transmit to you the accompanying copy of a
letter from the Accountant General dated the 11th instant, and to
request that you will instruct the Assay Master to furnish the collector of
Ghazeepore as well as all the collectors throughout the country with weights of
the Farruckabad and the Calcutta sicca currency as recommended by Mr Wood.
Letter from Wood to Government, dated
I have the honour to acknowledge the
receipt of your letter of the 3rd instant, forwarding a letter from
the Assistant Secretary to the Board of Revenue in the
The only weight required by Mr Barlow to
enable him to carry into effect the instructions conveyed in my letter of the 3rd
December last to the superintendent of resources, is a new rupee of the full
weight according to the mint regulation which may be multiplied so as to answer
every purpose.
The scales used in the General Treasury
are the common scales of the country, one calculated to weigh 100 rupees and
the other calculated to weigh 50 rupees. The former cost 2.8 annas and the
latter 1.8 annas and I am informed that when in constant use they will last for
two years.
It may be useful to furnish the
collectors throughout the country with stamped weights of the weight of a rupee
and of the weight of 10 rupees, to be preserved as musters, and I would beg to
recommend that the Assay Master at the Presidency may be directed to furnish
the collectors throughout the country with nicely adjusted weights accordingly,
for the purpose of unifying the weight of the Farruckabad and the Calcutta
sicca currency, and that these weights may have stamped upon their faces the
following inscription
|
Face |
Reverse |
|
Farruckabad Sicca Weight |
|
|
Mint 1825 |
Weight Of a Farruckabad Rupee Grains 180.235 |
|
Weight of 10 Farruckabad Rupees |
|
|
Mint 1825 |
Weight of Ten Farruck- abad Rupees Troy Grains 1802.34 |
|
|
|
|
Mint 1825 |
Weight Of a Rupee Trot Grains 191.916 |
|
Weight of 10 |
|
|
Mint 1825 |
Weight Of Ten Rupees Grains 1919.16 |
To Mint Committee from Newnham dated
Letter from Blake to Newnham dated
He would be prepared to go to Saugor as
Foreman but had been hoping for a better job. He would need an assistant. In
the past he had been standing in as Assay Master at the Farruckabad Mint until
Presgrave arrived, and had been hoping to be appointed to that job. He would
prefer a job at
To Calcutta Assay Master (H.H. Wilson)
from the Mint Committee,
I am directed by the Committee for
superintending the affairs of the mint at this Presidency to forward to you the
accompanying copy of a letter from the Secretary to Government in the
Territorial Department under date the 17th ultimo together with its
enclosure and to request that you will adopt the necessary measures to furnish
the collector of Ghazeepore as well as all the collectors throughout the
country with the weights therein alluded to
From the Mint Committee to Newnham,
dated
No assistant would be made available for
Blake, so Newnham was to take Blake’s response as a refusal to go to Saugor.
Letter from
Provides a named list of the pensionable
employees of the Farruckabad mint and suggested pensions.
To Government from the Board of Revenue
in the Western Provinces enclosing a letter from Mr Halled, collector of
A considerable quantity of light weight
spurious coin was in circulation. The coins had the new upright milling and
were of good appearance but lacked the secret Mint Master’s mark. The coins may
have originated from Rumpoor or Awadh but there was no way of checking.
Letter from the Mint Committee at Farrukhabad (Ferguson
& Lloyd) to Government, dated
Number Farrukhabad rupees minted in December 1805 =
242,408.
Letter from the Farrukhabad Mint Committee to Government,
dated
Number Farrukhabad rupees struck in January 1805 = 433,425.
Letter from the Farrukhabad Mint Committee to Government,
dated
Number of Farrukhabad rupees coined in March 1805 = 241,107
Letter from the Farrukhabad Mint Committee to Government,
dated
Number of Farrukhabad rupees minted in April 1805 =
323,020.
Letter from the Farrukhabad Mint Committee to Government,
dated
Number Farrukhabad rupees coined in May 1805 = 375,787
Letter from the Farrukhabad Mint Committee to Government,
dated
Number Farrukhabad rupees coined in June 1805 = 254,217.