CONFIDENTIAL
Sel
O
HKK 138/1
Kectiv
21 JAN 1978
DESK OFFIC:
INDEX
Mr Hull (Economists Dept)
Mr White (FRD)
3
HONG KONG COINAGE
1.
No
Your minute of 17 January refers. I cannot fully understand your comment that the Hong Kong Government should not try and keep the cost of its exchequer to the minimum. It is surely a prior responsibility of any government. It is not, in any case, necessarily true that the minting of coins, other than the Royal Mint, would result in a revenue loss to the UK. As I have said before, there are private mints in this country capable of undertaking this work.
2. Your statement that "if Hong Kong wishes to retain Her Majesty's head on its coins it has to place the orders at Her Majesty's mint" is factually incorrect. Other colonies, other states (eg Canada) issuing coins bearing The Queen's head and indeed even the Isle of Man, all have coing minted other than at the Royal Mint.
3. If Hong Kong is one of only 76 overseas customers for whom the Royal Mint struck coins in 1976, how is it that the loss of the Hong Kong business will have such a significant affect on employment at the Mint? I am particularly surprised at this when, presumably, the great bulk of the Royal Mint's work is in minting British coins.
4. Finally, I am afraid that I cannot quite grasp your point that, by going to international tender, the Hong Kong Government could initially obtain a cheap quotation, but would subsequently find itself held to ransom by its new supplier; incidentally, surely this is, in theory, the position it is in at present. If Hong Kong do have the freedom to put large orders out to tender, surely it could always continue to doso. That, I would have thought, is the point of going to inter- national tender and presumably the Royal Mint, because of its international reputation, would be on the list of those invited to tender.
24 January 1978
J Thompson
Hong Kong & General Department K 245
233 4377
CONFIDENTIAL