Hong Kong.
Sir,
Crown Agents to Colonial Secretary Hong Kong
17th May 1906.
Hong Kong.
550
I have the honour to acknowledge the receipt of your letter of the 7th April No.9261/06 Confidential and to inform you that we duly received the sum of £24,750 on the 7th May and we placed the amount to the credit of the special Account which has been opened in connection with the interest and repayment of the principal of the Loan issued on account of the Colony in respect of the Loan to the Viceroy at Wuchang.
2. We do not know the terms upon which these remittances have been made but the course which has been adopted of remitting the amount to us by Bills of Exchange instead of by Telegraph Transfer has involved the loss of a month's interest on the amount, and, since the interest on the Stock which has been issued is payable on the 15th April and 15th October in each year, the adoption of this course has entailed the provision of the amount required to meet the Stock interest in advance of the remittance.
3. We would suggest that if possible future remittances should be made to us by Telegraph Transfer, or better still that it should be arranged that the Chinese Government should make payment direct to us in London.
4. The last instalment of the 3 per cent Stock Loan is being received to-day and it is not possible until we know what the discount on instalments paid in advance and the interest on overdue instalments amount to, to determine exactly what will be the condition of the Special Account.
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