but I dissent from the assertion that Bills are just as available as Cash. In a recent case the Com Agents applied to a Bank to discount one of its own Acceptances, on which it declined to do, and the Bank of England did so only to the credit it attached to the signatures of the Crown Agents as endorsers of the Bill.
7. Without knowing the local circumstances of Hong Kong it is impossible to offer any opinion on the relative advantages of the various modes of remitting funds to this Country, though as there was considerable Imperial expenditure for Military and Naval Services at that station and in China I cannot see why arrangements should not have been made with the Commissariat Chest, as in many other Colonies, or why Treasury Bills might not have been forwarded.
8. At the present moment the Crown Agents, on behalf of Government of Hong Kong, credits are with Agra Masterman's Bank to the extent of £15,000, and it is impossible to state when or realization of that amount will be realized; - this fact renders any Comment unnecessary on the paragraph of Sir Dr. G. Macdonnell's despatch which refers to economy, safety and convenience of system of remitting money through the Crown Agents by Bills of Exchange.
I need not however enter further into past transactions, since the Lords Commissioners of...