50
present.
2.
be increased to a Million Dollars. $1,000,000.
a
In the despatch in question I proposed, and Your Lordship was pleased to approve, a regular yearly supply of Seven hundred and fifty thousand dollars. During the course of last year, a mistake in a telegram caused an extra shipment of Two hundred and fifty thousand dollars to be sent out, thus increasing the year's issue of Coins to One Million Dollars. This amount has not proved at all too much; indeed the issue had to be very jealously restricted during the last three months to prevent the great inconvenience which would have resulted from the complete exhaustion of the stock. We are now within a few days of the Chinese New Year, and though a balance of coin has been kept in the Treasury, this has only been accomplished by refusing a great many applications, especially from Chinese.
The large amount of building and other works, both public and private, going on in the Colony, naturally increases the demand for these coins, as Contractors and others need them to pay their workmen.
Probably