Letter to Gen Brownrigg-2

C. O. 54/40

Downing Street,
5th Nov. 1811

General Brownrigg
No 3.

Sir,

The representations which have been made to me by General Maitland since his return from the Island of Ceylon of the embarassment which was occasioned during his administration of the Government of that Island in consequence of the difference that existed between the nominal and the current value of the Rix Dollars, has made me anxious that you should receive such instructions previously to your departure from this country, as may enable you on your arrival to obviate that part of the difficulty to which it appears the most requisite that an immediate remedy should be applied - You are doubtless aware that the accounts nof the Island of Ceylon when that Settlement was subject to the Government of the East India Company were kept, as those at Madras at present are, in Star Pagodas and that on its annexation to the Dominion of the British Crown, the Rix Dollar vwas substituted by Mr North in the place of the Star Pagoda, and a relative fixed value was established by him between those respective coins which has been since observed in the payment of all public monies in the Island.

As`there can be no doubt that the value so fixed upon the Rix Dollar is much greater than that which it intrinsically bears it is the intention of His majesty's Government to reduce the difference which now exists between the real and nominal value of that coin and consequently by such reduction to make a proportionate increase to these salaries and allowances, which were originally computed in this country in Pounds Sterling, and which are now paid in Ceylon in Rix Dollar at their present nominal value. In determining the rate at which the Rix Dollars shall hereafter be issued, it is essential for obvious reasons to provide that the pay of the Troops shall not be liable to fluctuate with the possible fluctuations of the Exchange between Colombo and Madras, and therefore that in the payment of the subsistence and staff pay and field allowances of the European Officer and soldier the Rix Dollar shall be issued at a fixed and uniform rate.

It is already ordered in His Majesty's Regulations that His Troops when engaged in Foreign Service out of Europe shall be paid in Spanish Dollars at the rate of 4s 8d each Dollar; now the relative value of the Ceylon Rix Dollar: to the Spanish Dollar, reckoning the latter at 4s 8d, is very nearly 1/9 at the rate of 2 1/4 Rix Dollars for One Spanish Dollar: it will there fore be most comfortable to the spirit of the above mentioned Regulations that the subsistence and staff pay and Field Allowances of the European Officer and soldier serving in Ceylon, should be paid in Rix Dollars at the fixed rate of 1s 9d each as most nearly corresponding to the rate at which the Spanish Dollar is directed to be issued to the Troops.

A new value of the Rix Dollar being thgus established in the payments of the European Military servants, it has been determined, that in order to prevent that confusion which might arise from the issue of the same coin at different rates at the same period, it would upon the whole be most advisable to pay the salaries of the Civil Servants in Rix Dollars, at the same fixed rate, namely that of 1s 9d to the Rix Dollar instead of the present one of 9 3/8 Rix Dollars to the Pound Sterling.

From the time therefore of your arrival, the Rix Dollar will be issued, at the rate above specified in the payment of the salaries of the Civil Servants and of the subsistence of the European Troops (Iofficers and men) of all staff pay and field allowances which they are entitled to under His Majesty's Regulations. All stoppages for rations or otherwise which are now made upon a different principle are thenceforth to be made in strict conformity to the said Regulations, their amount being calculated and deducted in Rix Dollars at the rate above specified.

The pay of the Natives in the Colonial Corps and all pecuniary allowances to the European Servant, whether Civil or Military, except the Field Allowances ro the latter in the nature and in lieu of Batta, will in no respect be affected or varied by this arrangement as it is fairly to be presumed that all such allowances whether granted under the Head of Local Establishment, Island Pay, contingencies, or for any other purpose not arising out of His Majesty's General Regulations as to the Military and not forming a part of the salaries which have been fixed by His Majesty's Government at home as to the Civil, must have been settled with a reference to the real current value of the Rix Dollar at the time and not to the artificial value which had been assigned to it as the measure of its exchange for the Pagoda and the Pound Sterling by the Regulations of Mr North.

It must be distinctly understood that the addition made to the salary of the Civil Servant by the arrangement now proposed is to be received by him in lieu of all advantages of which he may hitherto have derived from the issue of debentures, of Accomodations, Bills, from permission to land, wine, or any other articles free from Duty at the Custom House.