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$1,534,000 of which $550,000 represents bills not yet due,
8.
Under the circumstances and in anticipation of the Crown Agents drawing upon the Government at no distant date, there was no gain in placing the Government monies on deposit even for the minimum period of three months with interest at 21/2 per cent, for if the Crown Agents had drawn during that period, the Government would have had no funds to meet the drafts and would have had to resort to an over-draft at 6 per cent or to withdraw the money on deposit in which case the ordinary 2 per cent interest alone would have been earned.
9.
As regards the $5,500 mentioned in Mr. Whitehead's letter, this sum does not belong to Government but represents monies deposited by officers in the Civil Service on account of their securities.
10.
The Chartered Bank of India, Australia & China is undoubtedly one of the banks included in the Secretary of State's instructions as a place of deposit for Government funds, and limits have been fixed as to the amounts to be lodged with the different banks.
11.
The reason why the Chartered Bank has not received on deposit at interest since March 1895 a portion of the Treasury monies available is that the limit of balances fixed by the Secretary of State with reference to the Hong-Kong