273
that effect in reply to Your Lordship's telegram of the 29th of the same month. The Chamber now recommends for the reasons stated in the letters herewith forwarded (see Enclosure) and for other more important reasons which I shall communicate to you confidentially that the Japanese Yen be not legalized in Hongkong, but that a British dollar should be coined at the Bombay Mint, which the Chamber has reason to believe can be undertaken at a seignorage of 1 1/4 per cent, or less, and legalized in Hongkong.
4. I concur with the Chamber that it would be an advantage if the Colony were made independent of foreign countries in regard to its currency by being placed in a position to obtain, whenever necessary, a supply of British dollars at a reasonable cost, and I therefore
7a.