modification of the gold par. Anyone who cared to scrutinize the rise in the price of silver could have found that the rise was largely speculative and could not have been permanent. _TABLE XLI_ _Price of Silver in Sterling (Pence)_³²¹ ─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────── Year Highest. Lowest. Average. Range of Variation. ─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────── 1913 29⅜ 25 15/16 27 9/16 3 7/16 ─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────── 1914 27¾ 22⅛ 25 5/16 5 5/8 ─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────── 1915 27¼ 22 5/16 23 11/16 4 15/16 ─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────── 1916 37⅛ 26 11/16 31 5/16 10 7/16 ─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────── 1917 55 35 11/16 40 7/8 19 11/16 ─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────── 1918 49½ 42½ 47 9/16 7 ─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────── 1919 79⅛ 47¾ 57 1/16 31⅜ ─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────── 1920 89½ 38⅞ 61 7/16 50⅝ ─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────── 1921 43⅜ 30⅝ 37 12¾ ─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────── ³²¹ From Kirkaldy’s _British War Finance_, 1921, p. 35. Figures for 1921 are added from the Indian Paper Currency Report. But supposing that the rise in the price of silver was not speculative, did it follow that the rupee was appreciated? The diagnosis of the Committee was an egregious blunder. With the facts laid before the Committee it is difficult to understand how anyone with a mere smattering of the knowledge of price movements could have concluded that because silver had appreciated the rupee had therefore appreciated. On the other hand, what had happened was [pg 205] that the rupee had depreciated in terms of general commodities, including gold and silver. Indeed, the appreciation of silver was a depreciation of the rupee. The following is conclusive evidence of that fact:— _TABLE XLII_ _Depreciation of the Rupee_