The second question raised by Mr. Gwynne concerned the purchase
of silver for rupees by the Government of India. It is stated that no silver has been bought since 1907 until this year, and on this occasion the silver was purchased through Messrs. Samuel Montagu and Co., a firm through which no transactions of the sort had ever previously been made. The explanation offered by Mr. Baker for the sudden employment of a new firm is that there had been the prospect of a speculative rise in the price of silver against the Government, and that this was avoided by the employment of Messrs. Samuel Montagu and Co. We think it quite possible that the Government were able in this way to make satisfactory arrangements. In view, however, of the fact that the head of the firm in question is the brother of the Under-Secretary for India, we have no hesitation in saying that the Government should have preferred to lose this chance of a slightly better bargain rather than risk the inferences which were only too likely to be drawn from the facts now disclosed. Here is another instance of the necessity to which we have lately referred for the greatest delicacy in financial matters on the part of Ministers.
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