The "demoralisation" of the silver market, as it is called,
has this week again excited attention. The price of silver as metal has fallen beyond all precedent to 291d. an ounce, or less than half what used to be regarded as its normal value. The price of rupee-paper has, of course, followed suit, and the 4 per cent, silver loans can now be purchased at a fraction above 57, a fall of 42 per cent, on the price of issue. The India Council, moreover, has failed to sell bills for more than a trifling amount, though it has accepted as a price for the rupee. At the same time, it is stated that the refusal to coin rupees in the Indian Mints is " constricting " the Indian banks, and the Bank of Bengal has raised its rate of discount to 9 per cent. It is believed, therefore, that the effort to give an artificial value to the rupee must be abandoned, and silver left to "touch bottom," when a reorganisation of finance will become possible. The change in the relation of the metals which has already occurred is very great, silver being now worth one-thirty-second part of gold instead of one sixteenth. and the dismaying fact is, that nobody knows anything about bottom price. The experts say that half-a-crown an ounce will be the " pivot-price ; " but they admit that new discoveries in Tasmania, or a cheaper method of extracting silver, may knock their calculations to pieces. As for the statesmen, they are beaten, and acknowledge helplessness.
