Here, again, the assumption that a gold Mint is a guarantee that there will be a gold currency seems to be one as gratuitous as the former assumption that if gold were allowed to be freely imported it would on that account become part of the currency. On the other hand, there are cases where Mints were open, yet there was neither gold coinage nor gold currency. Instances may be cited from the history [pg 272] of the coinage at the Royal Mint in London. The magnitude of gold coinage during the bank suspension period, 1797–1821, or the late war, 1914–18, is instructive from this point of view. The Mint was open in both cases, but what was the total coinage of gold? Throughout the suspension period the gold coined was negligible, and during the years 1807, 1812, and 1814–16 no gold was coined at all at the Royal Mint.⁴¹⁴ Again, during the late war the coinage of gold fell off from 1915, and from 1917 it ceased altogether.⁴¹⁵ There instances conclusively show that although a Mint is a useful institution, yet there is no magic in a Mint to attract gold to it. The historical instances adduced above leave no doubt that the circulation of gold is governed by factors quite independent of the existence or non-existence of a Mint open to the free coinage thereof. Now, it is an established proposition of political economy that when two kinds of media are employed for currency purposes the bad one drives out the good one from circulation. Applying this principle to the situation in India, it should be evident that so long as there is an unlimited issue of rupees gold cannot circulate in India. This important principle has been so completely overlooked by those who have insisted on the introduction of a gold currency that they have not raised a finger against the unlimited issue of rupees. Mr. Webb, the fiercest opponent of the India Office malpractices, and the staunchest supporter of the view that if only the Secretary of State could be made to contract his drawings gold would flow and be a part of the currency in India, recommended to the Chamberlain Commission that— “The sales of Council Drafts should be strictly limited to the sum required to meet the Home Charges, and no allotments should in any circumstances be made below, say, 1s. 4⅛d. to 1s. 4 3/32d.—i.e. about the present equivalent of specie point for gold imports into India. The sum required in London for Home Charges having been realized, _no further sales of Council Drafts should be made except for the express purpose—duly notified to the public—_ [pg 273] _of purchasing metal for the manufacture of further token coinage_. Such special sales of Council Drafts should not be made at anything below specie point for gold imports.”⁴¹⁶ ⁴¹⁴ _See_ G. R. Porter, _Progress of the Nation_ (Ed. Hirst), p. 568. ⁴¹⁵ _See_ Report of the Deputy Master of the Royal Mint, 1921. ⁴¹⁶ Italics not in the original.