No. 430.
Hongkong.
C
2920
Government House, Hongkong, 30th December, 1904.
Sir,
Referring to the 5th paragraph of your despatch No.338 dated the 25th November 1904 on the subject of the estimates of revenue and expenditure of this Colony for the year 1905, in which paragraph you commented on the estimates having been framed on a basis of 1/8 to the dollar, I have the honour to point out that to secure compliance with Section 8 of the Financial Instructions as to the date for the submission of the estimates, it is necessary that their preparation should be put in hand not later than the commencement of June in each year, and that the rate of exchange which affects a large proportion of the items in each vote has then to be communicated to Heads of Departments.
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In these circumstances the Acting Treasurer was consulted with regard to the rate for the estimates for 1905 at the end of May last and reported that the average of the previous four months had been 1/9¼ but that exchange had been going down slightly but steadily. On this report Mr. A. M. Thomson, Acting Colonial Secretary, talked the matter over with the Chief Manager of the Hongkong and Shanghai Bank who considered that 1/8, the average of the years 1902 and 1903 would be the best figure to take. Mr. Thomson then pointed out to the Officer Administering the Government that a difference of 1¼d in the rate...
THE RIGHT HONOURABLE
ALFRED LYTTELTON, K.C., M.P.
&c., &c., &c.