To
sure).
cost of a mint.
616
4.
According to Sir James Mackay's
Memorandum there were coined at the Bombay mint under the
agreement of the 14th. December, 1894, between the Secreta-
-ry of State and the two leading banks in China, British
dollars to the number of 156,166,427. According to a more
detailed account with which I have been furnished and of
which a copy is annexed, $153,16,208 had been coined up to
the 3rd. October, 1903, when import of the British dollars
into the Straits Settlements was stopped. The first ship-
-ment was made on the 13th. May, 1895, so that in the
course of 8 years about 154,000,000 dollars were coined.
This gives an average of about 18 millions a year. But in
the first, for years practically the entire amount and after-
-wards a very large proportion of this went to the Straits
Settlements. I have not been able to obtain the proportion
that came to Hongkong for local use and distribution in
China during the whole period but in the first five years
only 17 millions came here or an average of about 34
millions a year. Since the decision of the Straits Govern-
-ment to adopt a Gold Standard and to coin a silver dollar
for themselves the supply of British dollars to China has
been