§ MR. SAMUEL SMITH (Flintshire)I beg to ask the Secretary of State for India whether he is aware that numbers of money-sweating establishments have lately been set up in various parts of India for the purpose of sweating the gold coin now in circulation there, with the result that shopkeepers in Calcutta and 1500 elsewhere do not take sovereigns freely, and in many cases find it necessary to keep scales to test the weight of sovereigns which have only been in circulation for a few weeks; and whether the sovereigns which the Government of India are now issuing at post offices in payment for money orders, at the rate of one sovereign for fifteen rupees, are already deficient in weight, through having undergone the operation of sweating, with the result that hardship is caused to the poor and ignorant classes who are compelled to take sovereigns instead of rupees; and, if so, what steps the Government of India propose to take to suppress these money-sweating establishments.
§ * THE SECRETARY OF STATE FOR INDIA (Lord G. HAMILTON,) Middlesex, EalingI have been in communication with the Government of India on the subject of the hon. Member's question,, and find that they have no information to the effect suggested. As there is at present hardly any gold in circulation among the people, the statement that sweating is already extensively practised does not seem likely to be correct. But the Government of India will not lose sight of the possibility that such a practice may arise, and I know that they have already had it under consideration.