Silver has gone up and down more than 2d. an
ounce, or say, dper cent., within the fortnight, and the City Editors attack the Indian Council for its method of drawing bills, contending that it " demoralises " the market, more especially when the amounts sold are suddenly increased. The Council can defend itself, we dare say, but we have a question to ask, to which we can as yet find no published reply. Is it a certainty that bills must be drawn on India at all ? Has the possibility of monthly remit- tances to London in wheat, saltpetre, tea, and bar-gold from Australia ever been thoroughly examined ? We name, of course, only articles the sale of which by auction at a price is a certainty. It is quite possible that this side of the subject has been thoroughly looked into, and that the Dutch Colonial Office have been eon- suited as to their methods,—they used always to remit in produce —but it is also quite possible that the Council has accepted the present system as if it were a law of nature and immutable.
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