───────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────── Date of Alteration of the Rupee Par. Pitch of the Par. ───────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────── s. d. January 3, 1917 1 4¼ August 28, 1917 1 5 April 12, 1918 1 6 May 13, 1919 1 8 August 12, 1919 1 10 September 15, 1919 2 0 November 22, 1919 2 2 December 12, 1919 2 4 ───────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────── [pg 194] After having played with the rupee par, for two years, in this manner, as though such alterations involved no social consequences, the Secretary of State, on May 30, 1919, appointed a new Currency Committee under the chairmanship of Babington Smith, to recommend measures “to ensure a stable gold exchange standard.” The majority of the Committee, after half a year of cogitation, reported to the effect³¹¹ that ³¹¹ _See_ Report, P.P. Cd. 527 of 1920, par. 59. “(i) The object should be to restore stability to the rupee, and to re-establish the automatic working of the currency system at as early a date as practicable. “(ii) The stable relation to be established should be with gold and not with sterling. “(iii) The gold equivalent of the rupee should be sufficiently high to give assurance, so far as is practicable, that the rupee, while retaining its present weight and fineness, will remain a token coin, or in other words, that the bullion value of the silver it contains will not exceed its exchange value. “After most careful consideration” (the Committee said) “we are unanimous (with the exception of one of our members who signs a separate report) in recommending that the stable relation to be established between the rupee and gold should be at the rate of one rupee to 11·30016 grs. of fine gold both for foreign exchange and internal circulation.” i.e. the rupee to be equal to 2s. (gold). The minority report, which harped on the old cry of a stimulus of low exchange and penalty of high exchange, stood out for the maintenance of the old rate of 15 rupees to the gold sovereign or 113·0016 grs. troy of pure gold, and recommended the issue of a two-rupee silver coin of reduced fineness compared with the old rupee, so long as the price of silver in New York was over 92 cents.³¹² By the announcements of February 2, 1920, the recommendations of the majority of the Committee were accepted [pg 195] by the Secretary of State and also by the Government of India, which abandoned the old parity of 7·53344 grs. per rupee for the new parity of 11·30016 grs. troy. Now, has the rupee maintained its new parity with gold? ³¹² Report, p. 41.