of the Onder
6. It looks from the foregoing very much as though World-wide Coin Corporation are trying to pull a fast one and to obtain Hong Kong's presumably very lucrative business. We should do nothing to help a non-British firm take this business away from the Royal Mint.
7.
I have obtained a copy of the Hong Kong Coinage Order 1936 from the Library. The relevant article reads:
3 - (1) If the Governor at any time requests that any new coins of any demomination whether of silver, copper, nickel, cupro-nickel or other mixed metal, be coined and the Commissioners of Our Treasury and a Secretary of State approve such request those new coins may be so coined under the direction of the Master of Our Mint or at one of Our Mints in British India.
My reading of this is that it is not essential for such coins to be minted in the Royal Mint, although 3 · (2) and 4 (1),which concern the design and weight, are subject to the approval of the Master of the Mint, and Commissioners of the Treasury and a Secretary of State. So that clearly we have a close interest in the issue of coinage.
28 June 1974
M A Goodfellow
Hong Kong & Indian Ocean Dept
8.
Commander Parker came to see me on 28 June, principally to sound out the possibility of my suggesting to the Hong Kong Government that they should amend their legislation to enable World Coin Corporation to act as their agents in the minting of currency. I told Commander Parker that not only would we not intervene with the Hong Kong Government in this way, but also what in effect he was asking me to do was to help a firm registered outside the United Kingdom to gain business from a British company, namely the Royal Mint. As a UK civil servant paid by the taxpayer he would realise I could not do this. Commander Parker accepted this. We left it that he would try to get copies of the legislation from Hong Kong. Commander Part
Kong.Com
mander Parker inferer is botte
in the proof
امسال
Coms
لهى
infener is both in the circulatory order a
anising thene from for numismeritas, The same afternoon I had a telephone call from
Commage
9.
Mr Dowling at the Royal Mint (488 3424, who stressed to me that the Royal Mint could process any order from
Exṛ 236
/Hong Kong