In India also silver is greatly used, the standard coin being the silver rupee, worth about Is. 4d. The annual output of silver is roughly about £25,000,000. India was recently the scene of an audacious attempt to corner silver.

A movement known as “Swadeshi” was initiated by native-born inhabitants of India with a view to conserve within their own hands the management of Indian affairs. The movement comprised the forma¬tion of banks, the officers and capital of which were all native; and The Financial Times thus describes the attempt and failure of one of these banks to corner silver:
” One of the most important of these institutions was the Indian Specie Bank, the capital of which was enthusiastically subscribed and whose Directors in¬cluded Maharajas and other prominent native person¬ages. Under these favourable auspices, the concern found no difficulty in obtaining an important share of native business, and enjoyed the advantage of a sub¬stantial amount of deposited funds. The managements devolved into the hand of Mr Chunilal Saraya, whose experience and abilities appear to have compelled the “Bank in the long run to entrust him with unchecked control over the operations and funds of that institution. This gentleman set himself to dominate the silver market in Bombay. Flattered by success and imbued with the idea, so fascinating to the Indian mind, of Napoleonic ventures in finance, he conceived the idea of cornering the world’s supplies of silver.

/’Mr Chunilal Saraya was doomed to failure for several reasons. He miscalculated the date when the Government of India would enter the market. He overlooked the fact that the production of silver is not only large, but automatic, for it goes on whether wanted or not, being mostly a by-product in the mining of other metals. He also forgot that the metal is ex¬ceedingly costly to carry when the stock assumes large proportions.

” In three or more years he found that, in order to keep up the value of his stock, he had to be constantly in the market as a buyer, and thus ever adding to his commitments. It is probable that at one time he must have been responsible for £6,000,000 of silver either in the form of actual silver or forward contracts. The accumulation of this vast quantity involved enormous expense in the form of interest and the cost of pro¬longing contracts for delivery and also necessitated the provision of margin.

” The only hope of retrieving the situation lay in the prospect of purchases by the Indian Government. These long-expected purchases were made at length, and the Indian Specie Bank succeeded in selling £3,000,000 to the Government in 1918 before the purchases were completed.
” On the 1st December last year the Indian Specie Bank came to the end of its resources and closed its doors with £3,000,000 of silver still in its hands.”