pay,
October 29, 1906.]
CHINA OVERLAND TRADE REPORT.
There seems to be no
be without difficulties.
with their silver dollars for paper money, or reason why the Banks, for instance, should part even for sovereigos, unless they are made legal tender all round, and not in the modified way now proposed."
281
been sanctioned by the Home Treasury, would | gether, it is established that a depression seem to be a proper margin. But to enable the passed Santo Domingo, between Formosa – present dollar to be called in and recoined it and North Luzon, at an average velocity of will be necessary to have something to replace it, and that we take it, is the function of the eight nautical miles an hour, head ng for proposed dollar note. Its introduction will not Hongkong. Cloud formation noted at the eastern station at Borongan, Samar, con- firmed this. "It is a matter of fact' continues the report, shaped cyclone crossed north of our station “that a regularly of Santo Domingo in the afternoon of the 15th ". Was adequate attention paid to this at Hongkong? We must assume that Hongkong ignored or was unaware of it, or the theory that the unwelcome visitor arose in the neighbourhood and entered unan- nounced would never have been published.
here
The extract suffices to show what a be-
wildering number of factors besets such problems. A Government must have its income and yet maintain credit and stability. Commerce must have a currency that is really current, and not, as money now is,
tight." Banks must support commerce which supports them, but they too feel the influences beneath, which make the good ship of trade shudder and need careful steering. From the highest to the lowest, we are all so interdependent that, puzzling as these questions of High Finance may be, our interest in them must be of the keenest. In this connection, we may draw attention to the amusing conversation reported else where in this issue, which may perhaps be read indulgently by those to whom such matters are everyday truisms, and which may even possibly help our friend" man in the street. It will be noticed that our contributor has by no means exhausted who know all about such things can spare the explanations, but it is seldom that those the time to discuss the rudiments. lady in this case was evidently favoured.
written on metal instead of paper. Also as at Hongkong, the nominal value had to be maintained by restricting the issue. Now, however, the Singapore dollar is as good as it seems, or will soon be. It is worth, or nearly worth, its face value as metal. If silver continues to appreciate, as is most probable, the Straits dollar will be worth melting down for export. That is always a dangerous situation for a currency to be in, and is usually forbidden by law. But as
laws are
often broken, when sufficient profit appears, the Singapore Government must take steps to prevent such breach. With its new power, if it encounter an unusual demand for dollars, and suspect smuggling, it can foil the smelters by refusing dollars, and yet keep its promise to pay, by tendering gold. It is a roundabout way of obtaining the stability of currency that is desirable and uecessary, but roundabout methods are inevitable where bimetallic systems prevail. The layman naturally wonders why Governments do not hasten to solve the problem once for all by instituting a stable gold currency. The answer or auswers, for they are many and involved, may be summed up in the phrase, contemporary expediency. British colonies would be glad to put currency on a British footing, but they find it inexpedient to move till a big silver country like China sees its way to start the reformi. We have some remarkable compromises in Hongkong, due to attempts to remove the disabilities of a fluctuating exchange; and lately we have seen how some must suffer severely while others gain precisely the condition that prevails at a gambling table. this Colony at present has the aspect of a pari-mutuel, and the pony "Sterling left at the post. Of the new Singapore legislation, the Free Press says it question of high finance and it is the Bankers and Merchants who will have most to do with it". That applies equally to the position here, but the public and the tradesmen who depend on the local public. have to pay. Meanwhile the Colony is glutted with uncleared merchandise, and the demand for money for necessary remittances grows daily more acute, so that all helps to maintain the present position of the dollar Our comtemporary at Singapore states that the Government's action had that date no effect whatever on exchange, and we are unable to see that it
can make any appreciable difference at this end of the world, although the in the street" imagines all sorts of relation-ings. ship between the two dollars, now practically at one value. The Singapore Government is credited with another step towards its end, which is thus outlined by our contem- porary:
Life in
is
1 Is a
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10an
"One [rumour] is that the Government is proposing to issue one dollar notes a convenient form enough of currency, but to which the Home Treasury offered a fatal objection when the proposal was made years ago; it was that enough silver dollars should be held to redeem them in toto. In proposing to issue one dollar notes now, the probabilities are that the Govern- ment is going to use them as a medium for the debasing of the dollar. It is now 900 fineness, and is close upon its bullion value. If it were reduced to 800 fineness, the appearance of the coin would not be materially altered, but the Government would make something like 11 per cent profit on coining dollars, at the present price of silver. The trouble would be that the native might look askance at the debased dollar. Otherwise there would be no objection, once adopt the principle of a token coin, and that is what the 800 fineness dollar would be, in still further reducing its bullion value. The problem therefore is to keep up confidence in the coin. and yet make the intrinsic value so small that it does not pay to export (smuggle) it. The 800 fineness dollar, which is believed to have
THE TYPHOON AND THE OBSERVATORIES,
the
The
"
arouse
is ก remarkable barographic Batanes Islands, on September 15th, three depression recorded at Sto. Domingo, days before. It looks very like the sharp declensions recorded at Hongkong. That was afternoon, when the barometric minimum from three to four o'clock on the Saturday
739.89 on the following Tuesday morning. was 743.98 millimetres, against Hongkong's Father ALGUE--whose ability has never been doubted except at Hongkong-savs, from midnight the barometer was decidedly "I call attention to another fact, that is, falling up to 10 a.m., and therefore the semioscillation was lost; or, in other words, the pressure was falling since 3 a.m, instead oscillation is always a sign of an impending of rising. This alteration of the barometric
atmospheric disturbancə ". It is most important that there should be no irrelevant feeling imported into the matter. The mere word "Jesuit is sufficient to prejudice iu the English mind; and if we are to be swayed by sympathy, that sympathy will naturally flow toward our (Daily Press, October 27th.)
own oficials and fellow residents, at present The Rev. Jose ALGUÉ, S.J., Director of under a sort of cloud. The point is that the Weather Bureau at Manila Observatory, the issue is so momentous, so much life and has written a special report on what is now property is at stake, that it becomes à called "the Hongkong Typhoon", and we duty, however repugnant, to eliminate all have received a copy from the Weather personal consideration whatever, and to Bureau of the Department of the Interior regard the local Observatory as a machine. (Philippines). further justification for recalling public a single screw loose? If so mend it or end If we had really needed Is the machine working properly? Is there attention to the need for the searching it. We can see no other permissible point enquiry which has since been opened, these of view. So we come back to the original pages would seem to offer a superabundance question, which may now be put in still of it. The chief point we raised was clearer form, Are the relations of the whether the most. cordial relatious possible Hongkong Observatory as close and cordial were being maintained with our meteoro-with the Manila Weather Bureau as are the logical neighbours, particularly the weather relations of Manila with Siccawei and experts of Manila, who are in such a favour. Fermosa ? If not, they ought to be, and able position to forearm us with forewaru- the Government must endeavour to make
The question of whether earlier them so. warning could have been given as the demonstrated.
The need for this is amply result of observations by our own Observa. that so far as it was concerned_the_typhoon Hongkong has admitted tory was one we preferred to leave to the gave no enquiry which we regarded as inevitable. and Shanghai were not taken by surprise. warning, Manila, Formosa,
significant when considered in conjunction that if all the observers were in accord and Que chart in the repor: before us is very The conclusion is obvious. It is claimed with the local Observatory's hasty report sympathy, Hongkong
could have been tut the disastrous typhoon was a small warned at six o'clock that morning at the one which originated locally without latest. If it had been, is there any doubt that warning. It's life history, so to speak, has millions of dollars would have been saved been traced to a point nearly north of and a heart-breaking death-roll avoided? Guam, ten days away. Two days before, on the 16th at 2 a.m., the 8.8.
The Hankow Water Works has been Cu sur kong.
it rushing straight toward Hong-gion among the mercantile community there. subject which has lately received much discus- The statement published at the There have been many attempts, says the Daily Siccawei Observatory, and republished by us, to the effect that the same typhoon was not
News to secure a permit from His Excellency of local origin, but had been observed by works for the city, Wachang, and the Foreign the Viceroy for permission to construct water the stations of Formosa, "has proven to be settlement of Hankow; but although he is correct says this report, from observations supposed to be progressive we consider that at Santo Domingo de Basco and Aparri. world.
H.E. is one of the most obstinate men in the "It is very probable", goes on the Manila the purpose, nor will he allow foreigners to have He cannot furnish sufficient funds for Pacific in a regular way". Less conserv-needful. We understand however that there report. "that this storm came from the the privilege to come forward and do the ative minds than Father ALGUE's will say is some scheme put forward to which bis Ex- it is morally certain on the evidence cellency Chang Chih Tung has given his, available. Apart from probabilities alto assent. It is about time.
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