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These statements seem to show that it is doubtful whether the coinage of trade dollars will be resumed, and that, at any rate so long as the price of silver remains low and the dollars can be put into home circulation at a profit to the depositor of bullion, no large issues can be reckoned upon. For the present there- fore, the amount of American Trade Dollars available for commercial purposes may be taken to be, as estimated in the Mint Report last referred to, above $30,000,000.
The amount of Japanese Dollars of both kinds in circulation is far more limited, the total number of Yens and original trade dollars issued from the opening of the Osaka Mint in August 1871, until the 30th of June, 1878, having only been 4,766,378 and 3,023,927 respectively, or 7,790,305 altogether. The average issue of dollars from Japan therefore, has been but little over 1,100,000 a year; nor is this to be wondered at if it is considered that Japan can hardly be said to be a silver producing country. In the Official Hand Book to the Japanese section of the Paris Exhibition of 1878, the total production of silver from Japanese mines is given at 390,000 a year, or about £79,000 only, and, although there is reason to believe that this figure refers to the year 1875, it may safely be assumed that the present produc- tion does not exceed 500,000 Yen, or about £100,000 a year. It would appear that the Yen now again to be issued with a view to foreign trade may legally circulate in Japan, though the terms of the official proclamation of the 26th of November, 1878, substituting it for the Trade Dollar, are not quite conclusive on this point; but it is certain that the internal circulation of the Country consists almost entirely of paper money and subsidiary token coins, both greatly depreciated, and that dollars do not form any appreciable part of the currency. I understand indeed that but very few dollars are coined at the Japanese Mint except from silver brought in by Chinese and other traders wishing to make payments in Japan at the season of the Silk crop.
It would appear, therefore, that Japanese Dollars can hardly be looked upon as likely to afford much assistance in supplementing the commercial currency of
the East.
I
may add that, while the operations of the Japan coinage have undoubtedly been carried on with scrupulous regard to the accuracy of the coins, and there is no reason to apprehend that the management of the Mint will fail in this respect, the excessive issue of subsidiary coins, presumably for the sake of the profit accruing on their manufacture, and the unsatisfactory condition of the currency mentioned above, point to a considerable want of prudence on the part of the Japanese Govern- ment, and do not conduce to confidence in the wisdom of their future arrangements.
In these circumstances, I would submit that the adoption of American and Japanese Trade Dollars as part of the currency of Hongkong, though not perhaps in itself open to serious objection in principle, might very possibly lead to a false security on the part of the trading community. Both coins were made legal