The result of these operations was that at the end of the war the funds standing to the credit of the Government of India in London had been swollen to the unprecedented figure of L106,000,000, a large proportion of which had to be paid back to India when, with the cessation of the abnormal conditions induced by the war, the balance of trade turned against her, and the rate of exchange had been raised from the legal standard of sixteenpence to the rupee to 2s. 5d. The very important question then arose of the future legal ratio of the rupee to the sovereign or the L1 sterling. A Committee was appointed to advise the Secretary of State as to the best means of securing fixity of exchange under the new conditions; it took evidence in London during the year 1919 and reported towards the end of the year. A majority of the Committee recommended that the rupee should be linked with the gold sovereign and not with the L1 sterling, which had become divorced from gold under the pressure of war finance, and that the legally established ratio of 1s. 4d. or fifteen rupees to the sovereign should be raised to 2s., _i.e._ ten rupees to the sovereign. The Secretary of State accepted the recommendations of the majority of the Committee, and in February 1920 steps were taken to establish the new ratio regardless of the fact that signs were indubitably discerned in the previous month showing that the economic current had turned against India. The rupee was to be "stabilised" at 2s. gold. The only dissentient voice in the Currency Committee had been that of the one Indian member, a Bombay bullion broker, Mr. D. Merwanji Dalal, who probably had more practical knowledge and experience of the problem than all the ten signatories of the Majority Report, and he had pleaded in vain for the retention of the old ratio of fifteen rupees to the sovereign. The event was soon to demonstrate his sagacity. The Secretary of State in order to establish the new ratio sold "Reverse Councils" at rates from 2s. 11d. downwards. The attempt failed egregiously, for the rupee fell steadily, and has now fallen to and under 1s. 4d. The money represented by the Indian balances with the Secretary of State had been put down in London at 1s. 4d. upwards, and India had to pay at the rate of 2s. 11d. downwards to get it back. The difference between the two rates represents, it is calculated, a loss to the Indian tax-payer of thirty-five crores of rupees, or L35,000,000 at the "stabilised" rate ordained by Government.