DOI Seite / Zitierlink:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.3461#0114
104 COMMERCE; COINS, WEIGHTS, MEASURES, ETC
great variety of names. On the Ganges a few iron
steamers ply, but the cargoes despatched in them rarely
consist of anything beyond the supplies of European
goods required by the residents and regimental messes
in the interior.
The greater part of the transactions between Eng-
land and India are conducted by bills of exchange,
supported by bills of lading of the goods transmitted.
The coinage of India consists of rupees, annas, and
pice: sixteen annas go to a rupee, and three pysa, or
pice, to an anna. The rupee is of silver, about the
size of a florin, and is divided into halves and quarters
Sixteen rupees constitute a gold mohur, but the con-
tinual exportation of bullion and the practice among
the natives of melting down gold coins, and converting
them into personal ornaments, has caused the total
extinction of the coin. It is now merely nominal.
In transactions on the coast and with poorer classes of
natives, small shells, called cowries, are partially made
use of for fractional payments, but their value is sub-
ject to continual fluctuations, and they are now nearly
'superseded by the copper currency.
In the conversion of the rupee into the equivalent
currency of other nations in drawing bills of exchange,
the fluctuation of the relative value of the precious
metals inter se, is taken into consideration, from the
circumstance of gold being in some, and silver in
others, the legal medium of circulation. It is also
necessary to take account of the mint charge for coin-
ing at each place, which adds a fictitious value to the
iocal coin. The par of exchange is, for these reasons,
a somewhat ambiguous term, requiring to be distin-
guished under two more definite denominations. 1st,
The intrinsic par, which represents that case in which
the pure metal contained in the parallel denominations
of coins is equal. 2nd, The commercial par, or that case
in which the current value of the coin at each place
great variety of names. On the Ganges a few iron
steamers ply, but the cargoes despatched in them rarely
consist of anything beyond the supplies of European
goods required by the residents and regimental messes
in the interior.
The greater part of the transactions between Eng-
land and India are conducted by bills of exchange,
supported by bills of lading of the goods transmitted.
The coinage of India consists of rupees, annas, and
pice: sixteen annas go to a rupee, and three pysa, or
pice, to an anna. The rupee is of silver, about the
size of a florin, and is divided into halves and quarters
Sixteen rupees constitute a gold mohur, but the con-
tinual exportation of bullion and the practice among
the natives of melting down gold coins, and converting
them into personal ornaments, has caused the total
extinction of the coin. It is now merely nominal.
In transactions on the coast and with poorer classes of
natives, small shells, called cowries, are partially made
use of for fractional payments, but their value is sub-
ject to continual fluctuations, and they are now nearly
'superseded by the copper currency.
In the conversion of the rupee into the equivalent
currency of other nations in drawing bills of exchange,
the fluctuation of the relative value of the precious
metals inter se, is taken into consideration, from the
circumstance of gold being in some, and silver in
others, the legal medium of circulation. It is also
necessary to take account of the mint charge for coin-
ing at each place, which adds a fictitious value to the
iocal coin. The par of exchange is, for these reasons,
a somewhat ambiguous term, requiring to be distin-
guished under two more definite denominations. 1st,
The intrinsic par, which represents that case in which
the pure metal contained in the parallel denominations
of coins is equal. 2nd, The commercial par, or that case
in which the current value of the coin at each place