Page:The Economic Journal Volume 1.djvu/767

CIRCULATION OF THE RUPEE 745 undeclared trade already alluded to, there must exist a consider- able drain of rupees westwards, which is disguisecS by the failure of the statistics of that frontier to exhibit the tendency of the trade correctly. It is well known that the rupee circulates freely in Western Thibet, Bhutan, l?epal, Afghanistan, and Beluchistan. /?roar?#.--Information upon this source of disappearance is peculiarly meagre. It is not, for obvious reasons, usual for those that hoard to communicate the fact t/? their neighhours. Of late years, however, m?ny have in preference to hoarding invested in Government paper. Although it is true that hoardin? is not so prevalent as formerly, and has not fallen in past years very heavily on the present currency, the habit bred of distrust and ignorance durin? centuries of anarchy cannot be easily eradicated. This hoarding may be said to take two forms, that practised by old and wealthy families or princes, and that by the ordinary population. The former is the result of habit and tradition; the hoard is jealously preserved, and if means allow, has i?ro ?,?o a tendency to increase. It comes in time to be part of the family heirlooms, and its reputed extent is a source of gratification to the household. This form of hoarding, however, is gradually disappearing: the original cau.se, fear. of civil tumult, has passed away, and the presence of an increasing market for investment, the sweet simplicity of the 4 per cents., or family misfortunes, sooner or later have the effect of emptying the family vault. Notable instances of the dissipation of large hoards have occurred in recent years. In one instance, the Maharaja of Crwalior, a Mahratta chief, lent the Government upwards of three crores of rupees, of which all but thirty lakhs was in native coin. The Maharaja of Burdwan's accumulation (principally of sicca rupees) has disappeared in litigation and investment; and recently large hoards of Arcot rupees from Madras, and Chilki rupees from Kashmir, have passed into our mints. In Bengal, I have been informed of several other instances in which considerable hoards of sicca rupees were found to exist in the houses of wealthy land- holders on the occasion of their property passing into the control of the Court of Wards. There has, in fact, always been a tendency to hoard native coins of a.good quality, and the former sicca currency, which was of a better fineness than our present rupee; this preference has extended' also to Furruckabad rupees, which, owing to an error in the trial plate not discovered till 1825, are better than standard, and bein? for many years light weigh?, cause loss to any one tendering them to the mint as