499
be justified in issuing Notes elsewhere than at the head office. The Act provides whether in lieu of the being all held
Bullion reserve at are Office
returns
-Office the Government would not be content to know by returns sworn to before Her Majesty's Consul what were the Reserves
and Circulation at the Port
respectively.
This application I referred to the Attorney General and on receipt of his opinion, which was to the effect that the Executive had an option in the matter
and was bound to exact a Bullion Reserve of at least one third at
the head Office, I informed Gething that a compliance with the Law was indispensable, but that I would draw Your Lordship's attention to the great hardship and loss thereby entailed on the Bank in its competition with other Establishments.
5.
These including the Oriental Bank and Chartered Bank differ
in several respects from the Hongkong and Shanghai Bank as
are
an
their Notes issued and made payable in local currency
are at the branches, bound to keep a Bullion reserve at each Branch proportioned only to the local