“We have passed through many changes in currency policy and made not a few mistakes. But the broad lines of our action and our objects are clear and unmistakable, and there has been no great or fundamental sacrifice of consistency in progress towards our ideal. Since the Fowler Committee that progress has been real and unbroken. There is still one great step forward before the ideal can be reached. We have linked India with the gold countries of the world, we have reached a gold-exchange standard, which we are steadily developing and improving. The next and final step is a true gold currency. That, I have every hope, will come in time. …” [pg 276] ⁴²² _Financial Statement_, 1910–11, p. 346. Leaving aside for the moment the extenuatory remarks of the speaker, the fact remains that in 1900 India had a gold currency. But, taking stock of the position at the end of 1910, it had ceased to have it. What is it that made this difference? Nothing but the fact that between 1893–1900 no rupees were coined, but between 1900–1910 the number of rupees coined was enormous. During the first period the inducement to coin rupees was very great indeed. The exchange was not quite stable, and the Government had still to find an increasing number of rupees to pay for the “Home Charges.” And an Honourable Member⁴²³ of the Supreme Legislative Council actually asked:— “Is there any objection to the Government working the Mints on their own account? Considering the low value of silver and the great margin between the respective prices of bullion and the rupee, would not Government by manufacturing rupees for itself make sufficient profit to meet at least a substantial portion of the present deficit? It seems to me to be a legitimate source of revenue and one capable of materially easing our finances.” ⁴²³ This was no other than the Hon. Fazulbhai Vishram, the well-known financier of Bombay. Cf. his speech in the _Financial Statement_, 1894–95, p. 96. But Sir James Westland, who was then in charge of the finances of India, replied⁴²⁴:— “I must confess to a little surprise in finding the proposal put forward by one of the commercial members of your Excellency’s Council that we should buy silver at its present low price, and coin it for issue at the appreciated value of the rupee. … I shall certainly refuse myself to fall into this temptation.” ⁴²⁴ _Ibid._, p. 123. Again, in 1898, when some of the followers of Mr. Lindsay desired that Government should coin rupees to relieve the monetary stringency, Sir James Westland remarked⁴²⁵:—