─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────── Presidencies. Bullion. Coin. Government Value of Securities. Notes in Circulation. ─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────── Calcutta on — 1,84,55,922 1,10,44,078 2,95,00,000 Oct. 31, 1863 ─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────── Madras on — 73,00,000 — 73,00,000 Oct. 31, 1863 ─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────── Bombay on 1,17,00,000 1,19,00,000 — 2,36,00,000 Jan. 4, 1864 ─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────── Total 1,17,00,000 3,76,55,022 1,1,44,078 6,04,00,000 ─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────── As was pointed out by Mr. Cassels⁸⁰ the currency notes, after three years, had been taken only to the extent of about 6 per cent. of the whole metallic currency, which was then estimated by Mr. Wilson to be £100,000,000 in sterling, and that they had actually fulfilled their primary object of releasing the reproductive capital of the country only to [pg 42] the extent of a million sterling or 1 per cent. of the whole. On the other hand, the demand for currency grew apace. Owing to the demand for Indian cotton in the Liverpool market to take the place of American cotton, the export of which was stopped during the Civil War, the growing foreign trade assumed enormous proportions. And as the paper currency gave no relief the entire stress fell upon silver. The production of silver, however, was not increasing much faster than it did previously, and its absorption by India had not slackened. The inadequacy of a currency medium therefore continued to be felt as acutely as before, notwithstanding the introduction of a paper currency. This inadequacy was made good by increased imports of gold. Not only was gold imported in large quantities, but was employed for monetary purposes, although it was not legal tender. The fact was brought to the notice of the Government of India by the Bombay Chamber of Commerce⁸¹ in a memorial praying for the introduction of a gold currency in India, in which it was pointed out ⁸⁰ Cf. his letter to the Government of Bombay dated January 1, 1864, _Vide_ Papers, etc., on the Introduction of Gold in India, pp. 51–69. ⁸¹ _Report of the Bombay Chamber of Commerce_, 1863–64, App. I, p. 206. “that there is an increasing tendency to the creation of a gold ingot currency, by the natives of this country, as a rude remedy for the defects of the existing silver one,” and “that gold bars, stamped with the mark of Bombay banks, are for this purpose circulated in several parts of the country.”