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THE HONGKONG GOVERNMENT GAZETTE, 12TM MAY, 1866.
CIRCULAR.
DOWNING STREET, 20th March, 1866.
SIR,-I have the honor to transmit, for your information, the accompanying Copy of a Proclamation which has been approved by the Queen in Council, declaring Gold Coins made at the Branch Mint at Sydney, New South Wales, a Legal Tender within the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland.-I have the honor to be, Sir, Your most obedient humble Servant,
EDWARD CARDWELL,
GOVERNOR SIR R. G. MACDONNELL, `C.B.,
Sc.,
&c.,
je.
BY THE QUEEN. A PROCLAMATION,
For declaring Gold Coins made at the Branch Mint at Sydney, New South Wales, a legal Tender within the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland, and for imposing a Charge of Threepence per Ounce Troy of Standard Gold on the Coinage of Gold at the said Branch Mint, being a Charge sufficient to defray the Expenses of Coinage over and above the Expenses of Assay and Refining.
VICTORIA R.
Whereas by an Order in Council, bearing Date the Nineteenth Day of August One thousand eight hundred and fifty-three, We have thought fit to order that a Branch of Our Royal Mint should be established at or near Sydney in New South Wales:
And whereas in the Eighteenth Year of Our Reign, by an Order in Council, dated the Eighteenth Day of October One thousand eight hundred and fifty-four, We have thought fit to order that certain Pieces of Gold Money should be coined at the said Branch of Our Royal Mint to be called respectively Australian Sovereigns and Australian Half Sovereigns, and to be of the same respective Weights, Fine- ness, and Values with the Sovereigns and Half Sovereigns now current within this Our Realm:
And whereas, pursuant to and in virtue of the Powers given in Our said Orders in Council, it is provided that a Coinage of the said Australian Sovereigns and Half Sovereigns shall be made, and that every such Australian Sovereign shall have for the Obverse Our Effigy, with the Inscription, "Victoria D.G. Britannia Regina, F.D.," and the Date of the Year, and for the Reverse the Word "Australia placed in the Centre of the Piece encircled by a Laurel Wreath, and surmounted by the Royal Crown with the Inscription "Sydney Mint, One Sovereign," and with a Graining on the Edge; and that every such Australian Half Sovereign shall have the Obverse in every respect similar to that of the Sovereign, and for the Revere the same Word "Australia" in the Centre, encircled and surmounted in like Manner, but for the Inscription the Words "Sydney Mint, Half Sovereign," and a Graining on the Edge: And whereas Pieces of Gold Money have been and will be coined at Our said Branch of the Royal Mint in pursuance of Orders issued and to be issued:
And whereas by an Act made and passed in the Twenty-sixth and Twenty-seventh Years of Our Reign, intituled "An Act to enable Her Majesty to declare Gold Coins to be issued from Her Majesty's "Branch Mint at Sydney, New South Wales, a legal Tender for Payments, and for other Purposes "relating thereto," it is provided that "it shall be lawful for Her Majesty, by Proclamation issued "with the Advice of Her Privy Council, to declare that, after a Date specified in such Proclamation, "Gold Coins made at the said Branch Mint at Sydney aforesaid, of Designs approved by Her Majesty, "and being of the same Weight and Fineness as are required by Law with respect to Gold Coins of "the same Denominations made at Her Majesty's Mint in London, are to be a legal Tender for "Payments within the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland, and upon such Proclamation "being issued Gold Coins, made of such Designs and being of such Weight and Fineness as aforesaid, "shall be a legal Tender for Payments accordingly:"
And whereas by the same Act it is further provided that "it shall be lawful for Her Majesty, by “Proclamation issued with such Advice as aforesaid, from Time to Time to impose on the Coinage of "Gold at the said Branch Mint at Sydney a Charge sufficient to defray the Expenses of Coinage over "and above the Expenses of Assay and Refining; and it shall be incumbent on the said Deputy Master "to coin Gold at the Charge so imposed:"
We therefore, by and with the Advice of Our Privy Council, have thought fit to issue this Our Royal Proclamation, and We do ordain, declare, and command, that from and after the Date of the Publication of this Our Proclamation in the London Gazette Coins made at the said Branch Mint, of Designs approved by Us, at Sydney aforesaid, and being of the same Weight and Fineness as are required by Law with respect to Gold Coins of the same Denominations made at Our Mint in London, shall be a legal Tender for Payments within the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland.
And We do hereby, by and with the Advice of Our Privy Council, by this Our Royal Proclamation, impose on the Coinage of Gold at the said Branch Mint at Sydney the Charge of Threepence per Ounce Troy of Gold of Standard Fineness, being a Charge sufficient to defray the Expenses of Coinage over and above the Expenses of Assay and Refining.
Given at Our Court at Osborne House, Isle of Wight, this Third Day of February in the Year of our Lord One thousand eight hundred and sixty-six, and in the Twenty-ninth Year of Our Reign.
GOD SAVE THE QUEEN.