[25] Before 1893 these terms were used with a different significance. The statistics are still a little ambiguous as to whether for the net circulation the notes in Government reserve treasuries or the notes in all Government treasuries are to be deducted. I use the term in the latter sense.
[26] For an account of this see p. 73.
[27] At all times the vast bulk of the funds held by the Presidency Banks at their Head Offices are kept in notes, chiefly of high denominations (Rs. 1000 and Rs. 10,000); e.g. on December 31, 1911, £4,200,000 out of £4,800,000 was thus held.
[28] The part played by gold is discussed in Chapter IV.
[29] I estimate that at this date the total volume of the active rupee circulation was between five and six times the total volume of the active note circulation.
[30] The proper proportion would partly depend upon the policy pursued in regard to the Gold Standard Reserve.
[31] H. of C. 495 of 1913.
[32] This quotation is from a letter addressed by the Government of India to the Secretary of State, nine years later (May 16, 1912).
[33] The value of the token coins (silver, nickel, and bronze) circulating in Egypt and the Sudan is estimated at no more than £E3,600,000, and the notes of the National Bank of Egypt (chiefly current in the large towns) at £E2,400,000. The whole of the rest of the currency consists of gold coins (chiefly British sovereigns). The existing position in Egypt is, therefore, the ideal at which many Indian currency reformers seem to aim.
[34] See Lindsay’s evidence before Indian Currency Committee (1898), Q. 3404.