3
Confidential.
20554/88.
Extract from Report dated 21 Dec. 428
remarks in
1858 upon Mr S. Montaga's
Mint Vote for 1888/9.
H.qc.
Coinage of
a British dollar
for circula- -tion in the Bast.
See Fifth Annual Report (1874) p.p. 9,74.
Eighth Annual Report (1877) p.11.
Eighteenth Annual Report (1887) p.14
the
Mr Montagu finally proposes that the Mint
should he allowed to coin for the public a British trude- dollar for circulation in the East, pointing out that the Mexican dollars circulating in China and British Depen- dencies in the East are now the principal coins used for trade purposes in those countries. This question has frequently been brought under Their Lordships' notice as will be seen by a reference to my Annual Reports.
In 1874 the Governor of Hong Kong, and in 1877 the Governor of the Straits Settlements, reported to the Colonial Offic on the subject of the currencies of those Colonies, with special reference to the dependence of the trading com- munities in the East on Mexican and other foreign dollars, and in 1887 the Legislative Council of the Straits Settle- ments forwarded a Memorial for presentation to the Queen praying that Her Majesty would be pleased to cause a British dollar to be issued for circulation in the Colony. As Their Lordships are aware, a Mint was established in Hong Kong in 1864 for the coinage of a British dollar, with
the expectation that there would be sufficient inducements to holders of bullion to bring it in for coinage, and that the Mint-charge, which was fixed at 2 per cent, would be sufficient to meet the expenses of the Mint. This experiment was a complete failure so far as its
financial results were concerned, and the Mint was ahan-
-doned in 1868. The time selected for the experiment of a
Mint at Hong Kong was doubtless unfavourable, but it is to
be feared that any other scheme for obtaining a British
dollar