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dollars as of late the former coins have been cheap in comparison to their intrinsic worth. Develse Retin which shows that the Mint has received after a long period of inaction 849,257.07 of Silver for coinage since the 1st of January in the present year and of this more than 587,000 oz. have been received in the last six weeks.
None of this would have been sent in if the Seignorage charged at the Indian Mints, viz: 2 per cent had been charged here; and I think it right to remind you that assuming your working expenses of the Mint when fully employed to amount to $100,000 per annum, and remembering that in coining there is a waste of 3 per mil which falls on the Colony, it would require a coinage of about $3,300,000 dollars to defray its expenses without taking into account interest on Capital sunk, which here cannot be put at less than $30,000 per annum.
8. The Silk trade and commercial operations at Canton will soon require for use there all the Mitchibus (or rather, probably, "Mexican dollars") of the country, which