152 THE BRITISH EMPIRE: — INDIA AND DEPENDENCIES

legislation has relaxed the rigidity of the circle system. Notes of the values of five, ten, fifty, and hundred rupees are now legal tender throughout British India, and the limitation of currency to the circle of issue is confined to notes of higher denominations.

There are now seven circles of issue : Calcutta, Bombay, Madras, Ran- goon. Cawnpore, Lahore, and Karachi.

Total values of notes in circulation on ]\larch 31 in six years :--

Rs. Rs.

1906-7 . . . 46,95,19,260 1909-10 . . 54,40,84,250

1907-8 . . . 46,88,50,345 1910-11 . . 54,99,05.815

1908-9 . . . 45,48,79,505 1911-12 . . 61,36,25,095

Nearly two-thirds of the total note circulation is in the currency circles of Calcutta and Bombay.

Statistics of the Post Office Savings banks for five years : —

Banks

Depositors Balance a^t^end of

Rs.

1906-07 8,049 ' 1.190,220 14,77,11,449

1907-08 8,328 1,262,763 15,18,15,000

1908-09 1 8,501 1.318,632 15,23,50,022

1909-10 I 8,767 1,378,916 15,86,72,164

1910-11 8,929 1,430,451 , 16,91,94,257

Currency, Weights, and Measures.

The money, weights, and measures of India, and the British equivalents, are as follows: —

The Pie = ^ Farthing.

3 ,, .

4 Pice, or 12 Pie 16 Annas

15 Rupees

= 1 Pice . . . = 1 Farthing. = 1 Anna . . . = 1 Penny. = 1 Rupee . , . = \s. id.

= 11.

The rupee weighs one tola (a tola = 180 grains) "916 fine. The sum of 1,00,000 rupees is called a * lac,' and of 1,00,00,000 a * crore ' of rupees.

The Maund of Bengal of 40 scrs . = 82^ lbs. avoirdupois.

,, ,, Bombay . . . = 28 lbs. nearly.

,, ,, Madras . . . = 25 lbs. nearly.

,, Tola . ... . . . = 180gr.

,, G^2is of Bengal . . . . = 36 inches.

An Act to provide for the ultimate adoption of a uniform system of weights and measures of capacity throughout British India was passed by the Governor-General of India in Council in 1871. The Act orders : Art 2. ' The primary standard of weight shall be called a ser, and shall be a weight of metal in the possession of the Government of India, ecjual, when weighed in a vacuum, to the weight known in France as the kilogramme, = 2 '205 lbs. avoirdupois.' Art. 3. 'The units of weight and measures of capacity shall be, for weights, the said ser ; for measures of capacity, a mea- sure containing one such ser of water at its maximum density, weighed in a vacuum.' 'Unless it be otherwise ordered, the subdivisions of all such weights and measures of capacity shall be expressed in dec4Pfi?il paxtfi. ' This

Act, however, has never been brought into operation.