T
Gentlemen.
•
by
The Royal Mint to Crown Agents.
26th September 1900.
C. 0.
31046
REC
Root 23 SEP 00
238
I have to acknowleage the receipt of Mr Mercer's letter of the 19th instant, with enclosures, relative to a consignment of subsidiary silver coins supplied by the Birmingham Mint in June last to the Government of Hong Kong.
In regard to your enquiry as to an alleged deficiency in weight of these coins, I have to state that the officer of this Department charged with their inspection reported as follows on the 23rd June last:-
deviation
27 grains.
"With respect to the weight, I found that on the "dollar all the samples tested were well within the "legal limit of two grains; whilst on the pound the "deviation from standard in no case exceeded five grains"
This result was regarded as highly satisfactory.
I may point out that the alleged difference between one parcel of 1000 dollars supplied by the Birmingham firm and another containing coin of the like value struck at the Royal Mint seventy cents is equivalent to 293 grains. On the assumption that the Royal Mint coins were of standard weight, the legal variation (two grains per dollar) might amount to 2000 grains. The difference under consideration amounts on the average to .029 of a grain on a 10 cent piece (legal variation .2) and .014 of a grain on a 5 cent piece (legal variation .1).
The
-2-
Master