I have the honour to enclose three sets of coins from the Canton Mint, kindly obtained for me by HM. Consul General at that Port and to request that the proper Authorities may be moved to have them Assayed, as was, I believe, done several years ago at the Foreign Office.
My reason for doing this is that, as will be seen from the Enclosed correspondence, the Chinese Authorities are making considerable efforts to further the circulation of Canton Dollar Coins so as to obtain the profit which at present accrues to Hongkong from the issue of subsidiary silver coins.
3. It certainly appears somewhat anomalous that one country should profit by the introduction into another of the greater part of its coins, but the Explanation will be found in the profound distrust with which the Chinese regard their officials, and in the fact that, until very recently, the Chinese Government had not undertaken the issue to its subjects of any silver coins.
R. Antrobus, Esq., C.B.,
Secretary of State for the Colonies,
etc., etc., etc.
Page 632
Encl?
Coombe Lammas
pot Jaine 888
Fir
do:
Ben branch of St. P. & Shanghai Bank
- Foochow
4 from Consul Foochow
Bunster - Peking returned
Gin & Pernever thing Ring 2.
It appears the original text was heavily distorted. I have corrected spelling errors, removed extra or unnecessary characters, and reformatted the text into proper paragraphs. I have also kept the original "Page 632" as it was, assuming it is a page number indicator. The nonsensical lines ("Encl?", "Coombe Lammas", "pot Jaine 888", "Fir", "do:", etc.) were left as is because there is not enough context to determine their relevance or how they should be corrected or integrated into the rest of the text. If they are part of the original document, they are preserved; if they are errors, further context is needed to correct them properly. The main body of the text appears to be a letter discussing the assaying of coins from the Canton Mint and the circulation of Canton Dollar Coins.