It is about equivalent to all the foreign community going about in slop clothes, or the British army being clothed by the worn-out and out-of uniforms of France, Russia, and Germany. Mr. Keswick has very properly and wisely said that before we can think of indulging ourselves in a British dollar we must count the cost. This should be done in all things and in this as much as anything else. An idea has occurred to me only this morning, about an hour before I came into this room, that perhaps the application which the Japanese make to us to allow them to do the work of solving the Japanese yen for circulation in Hongkong and the Straits might be turned into an enquiry on our part whether the Japanese Government would be willing at their mint, their magnificent mint—one of the best mints in the world—at Osaka, and with all the advantages which that mint possesses and which have been referred to by the Chairman in connection with the Japanese yen, whether they would coin a British dollar on the same terms on which they propose to coin the Japanese yen. They might possibly refuse, but I think it is quite possible that they might consent. The cost would be the same, and if the Japanese Government will coin a British dollar, and make that dollar legal tender in Japan, we may very well in return make the Japanese yen legal tender in Hongkong and Singapore. I have had no opportunity of seeing the members of the Committee on the subject because the idea only occurred to me one hour ago, but it seems to me that it might lead to a solution of the difficulty in which we are at present placed. The Japanese would find great advantage in it, and I believe that nothing would do more good in Japan at the present time of excitement and questioning than the circulation of a number of our coins with our noble and revered Queen upon them. I have just returned for the eighth time from a visit to Japan, and amidst all its beauty of scenery and people there is something lacking there. There is something lacking, and I am not quite sure that Englishmen are loved as much there as they ought to be or they were. Possibly it is that those Englishmen and other foreigners with whom the Japanese come into most close contact are not those whose influence is calculated to impress favourably the Japanese as a nation. I do think that while they are studying earnestly the English language, English literature, and English history, it would be a fine thing if we could possibly get them to look favourably on the English character, and I do think that the Queen's head would do more to pave the way for treaty revision in the sense in which the Japanese desire their treaties to be revised than anything else they could possibly adopt. It would bring us more closely together; there is no question about that. You will remember the song of the French poet of the First Empire which says, "You make the laws; let me write the ballads." And I think we will find that of advantage to us in Hongkong. There is too little disposition on the part of the Chinese to render unto Caesar the things which are Caesar's and I do not think the Chinese in Hongkong behave to us as they did 35 years ago when I first came here. I think they want to see the Queen's head among them a little more, and a few more of those dollars which once circulated in the colony and which are now hoarded up for their beauty and associations which linger round them. I cordially support the resolution brought forward, but if we can get our British dollar coined in Japan upon the condition of making the Japanese yen legal tender in Hongkong and the Straits Settlements I think it would be a good arrangement for all parties.
Mr. J. H. Scott—I have much pleasure in seconding Mr. Jackson's resolution.
The CHAIRMAN—Gentlemen, you have heard the resolution which was proposed by Mr. Jackson and seconded by Mr. Scott, That this Chamber move the Government to make the Japanese yen legal tender in this colony.
The resolution was then put and carried unanimously.
Hon. T. H. WHITEHEAD—I rise to move, "That a Special Committee be appointed by the Committee of the Hongkong General Chamber of Commerce to inquire into and report on the desirability, in the interests of trade, of the coinage of a British dollar, equal in weight and fineness to the Mexican dollar, for circulation in this Colony concurrently with the dollars which are now legal tender." It would be well, as Mr. Jackson has said, that we should have more than one string to our bow, and I fully concur with the remarks made by Mr. Jackson in connection with the Mexican dollar. At present, and for the last two weeks, it has not been possible to purchase Mexican dollars in the London market, and they have been quite as scarce in America. In view of the extraordinary policy adopted by the Indian Government it is very difficult to conceive what the Mexican Government (acting in unison with the American Government) might not do. It is quite possible a heavy export duty may be exacted in future, and if we had nothing but the Mexican dollar to fall back upon, our trade would have to bear the brunt and heat of the day. As regards the Japanese yen, they are and have been proved to be of uniform and safe value; but we do not know what the Japanese Government may do after what India has done. Japan may be inclined to limit her coinage or increase the mint charges; the seignorage or mintage—1 per cent.—now exacted by the Government leaves a loss, it is understood, of ½ per cent. In addition to that, if those who have to provide the currency had to ship bar silver from here to Kobe, convey it by rail from Kobe to Osaka and back to Kobe, and ship the money to Hongkong, they would have to bear the charges for shipping, freight, and insurance and railway charges, together with the loss of interest, which would increase the cost by at least 1 per cent. It is therefore most desirable that it should be possible to have a dollar coined in London. The mint is already established there, and all that is requisite and necessary is simply to have fresh dies; there are also the mints at Bombay and Calcutta, and by having these resources to fall back upon we would be better off than we were limited to the Mexican dollar and the Japanese yen. I, therefore, have much pleasure in moving the resolution I have just read out.
Mr. J. J. FRANCIS seconded the resolution. With reference to the suggestion of Mr. Granville Sharp that they should endeavour to get the Japanese Government to coin them a British dollar he did not think that the proposal was at all practicable and he did not think that it would in any case be desirable that a foreign nation should coin anything bearing the Queen's head. As to the establishment of a mint at Hongkong he did not think that that would be a remunerative enterprise as the Chinese Government were manifesting a disposition to have mints of their own, and if they went in for a system of mints in all the important parts we should soon find that we had no market for the coins which it cost us so much to produce. He thought therefore that it would be going in for a very great risk to start a mint in Hongkong seeing how heavy was the expenditure necessarily entailed in the establishing of a mint. It might, however, be very advantageous to have a British dollar coined in Bombay, London, or Calcutta as there would not then be any initial cost.
Hon. T. H. WHITEHEAD called the attention of the members to some correspondence with the Secretary of the Singapore Chamber of Commerce in 1887, which he said was of such general interest in connection with the subject they were discussing that perhaps the Press might see their way to republish it.
Mr. J. S. LAPRAIK asked whether the members of the Committee to be appointed to enquire into the question of a Hongkong dollar must necessarily be members of the Chamber of Commerce.
Hon. T. H. WHITEHEAD said that there was nothing in his resolution which suggested that, and that it would be quite open for the members of the Committee to invite any gentleman to join the sub-Committee.
Mr. GRANVILLE SHARP made a few remarks on the difficulty at present experienced in obtaining subsidiary coinage from the Treasury and suggested that that might very properly fall within the scope of the sub-Committee's enquiry. At the present time if any one required change for $10 they had to send for an order to the Treasury and then go to the Hongkong and Shanghai Bank for their small change.
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