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314
Settlements Currency Committee has now been wade public by being
laid before Parliament.
The Under Secretary of State
for India.
I am, &c.,
C. P. LUCAS.
4. A copy of this letter is being communicated to the Treasury and to the India Office.
The Deputy Master of the Mint.
I am, &c.,
C. P. LucaS.
Enclosure No. 8.
India Office to Colonial Office.
No. 20,024. Sir,
Euclosure No. 7.
Colonial Office to India Offer.
Colonial Office, Downing Street,
3rd June 1903.
With reference to the letter from this Office of the 19th ultimo, I am directed by Mr. Secretary Chamberlain to transmit to you, to be laid before Lord George Hamilton, a copy of a letter which has been addressed to the Mint, with regard to the preparation and despatch to India of the matrices, &c., for the new Straits dollar.
Any information which may be received from the Mint with reference to this matter will be at once communicated to you, In the meantime, I am to suggest that the Government of India should be asked how soon after the arrival of the matrices, &c., at Bombay they will be ready to start coining operations, and should also be requested to place them- selves in direct communication with the Governor of the Straits Settlements regarding the arrangements for the supply of silver, &c.
The Order in Council providing for the coinage of the new dollar and the currency changes connected therewith has been drafted and will be submitted to His Majesty very shortly.
The Under Secretary of State
for India.
I am, &c.,
C. P. LUCAS.
F. 3786.
Sir,
India Office,
9th June 1903.
I am directed to acknowledge the receipt of Mr. Lucas's letter
of the 3rd instant, No. 20024/1903, regarding the steps to be taken with a view to the coinage of the new Straits dollar, and in reply I am to forward a copy of a telegram* which has been addressed to the
* Dated 5th June 1903.
Viceroy of India on the subject.
The Under Secretary of State, Colonial Office.
No. 20,676.
I have, &c.,
LIONEL ABRAHAMS,
Financial Secretary.
Enclosure No. 9.
Colonial Office to India Office.
Colonial Office, Downing Street,
9th June 1903
The Under Secretary of State for the Colonies presents his compliments to the Under Secretary of State for India, and is directed by the Secretary of State to transmit, for the information of Lord George Hamilton, with reference to the letter from the Colonial Depart- ment of the 3rd instant, copies of the telegrams and letter, noted in the subjoined Schedule on the subject of the design of the new Straits dollar.
Date.
Description.
Annex.
Colonial Office to the Deputy Master of the Mint.
No. 19,898. (Immediate.) Colonial Office, Downing Street, Sir,
30th May 1903.
With reference to the unofficial correspondence which has taken place between yourself and this Office regarding the proposed new dollar for the Straits Settlements, I am directed by Mr. Secretary Chamberlain to inform you that of the designs for the reverse of the coin submitted to him (which are returned herewith) he prefers the one marked B" and initialled " M.F.O.", and approves of its adoption.
2. The introduction of the new coin having now been definitely decided on, I am to ask that the necessary matrices, &c., may he prepared with the greatest possible expedition and forwarded direct to the Master of the Bombay Mint. It is desired that similar implements may be sent out as in the case of the British dollar. There appears to be no record in this Office of the exact nature of the different implements sent out on the occasion of starting the coinage of the British dollar, but the records of the Mint will no doubt give the necessary information, and I am to refer you in this connection to the letter from the Mint to this Office of the 30th April 1895, and other correspondence of the same period.
3. The cost incurred in preparing and forwarding these implements will be repaid from Straits Settlements funds, on the account being sent. to this Office.
4th June 1903
5th June 1903
Telegram from the Governor of the Straits Settlements. Telegram from the Governor of the Straits Settlements.
Letter to the Deputy Muster of the Mint.
5th June 1903
No. 20,501.
Annex 1.
Telegram.
Governor Sir F. A. Swettenham to Mr. Chamberlain.
(Received, Colonial Office, 8.30 a.m. 4th June 1903.)
I recommend that Straits dollar should be one-sixteenth smaller diameter than British dollar, with Royal Standard or King's Head on obverse and lion rampant on reverse with words Straits dollar and date all in high relief.