he Hon. A.M.Thomson,
Colonial Treasurer,
HongKong.
sir,
Enclosure!.
437
0.0.
40246
REOT
REG TO DEC 00
HongKong & Shanghai Banking Corporation,
HongKong,12th.September, 1900.
I have to acknowledge your letter of the 29th.August, in which you inform me that the question of es-
tablishing a Mint in the Colony is under consideration by the
Government, and inviting me to make some remarks on the sub-
ject. I think there is no question from the Bank's point of
view but that such an establishment would be most useful her
and prove a great benefit to trade, as it would enable us to
import silver in Bars to be coined by the Mint into British
Dollars.
I am here assuming that the Mint would be estab-
lished with this end in view as well as the coinage of Sub-
sidiary coins and I would bring to your notice the following
statistics which I have been able to collect.
The total amount of British Dollars made in the
Bombay Mint during the 5 years from the 14th.May 1895 to the
14th.May 1900, was $82,961,208 of which about 17 millions
came on to HongKong, or say an average of 8 millions for each
year.
The British Dollar circulates freely in Canton and
Swatow, but formerly the large proportion of the entire coin-
Ris
age