[This Document, is the Property of His Britannic Majesty's Government]
34798
PEOP
[September 9] OCT 07
CHINA TRADE.
CONFIDENTIAL,
[30120]
No. 1.
SECTION 1.
(No. 363.) Sir,
Sir J. Jordan to Sir Edward Grey.-(Received September 9.)
Peking, July 24, 1907. IN pursuance of a representation which he recently received from the Chambers of Commerce of Hong Kong, Shanghae, and Tien-tsin, the doyen of the Diplomatic Corps addressed a note, copy of which I have the honour to inclose, to Prince Ching, again calling the attention of his Highness to the disabilities under which foreign trade is labouring owing to the delay in the establishment of a uniform national coinage.
In his reply, copy of which is likewise inclosed, the Prince states that the question is now under the consideration of a Commission, composed of officials in the Grand Secretariat and other departments of State, who will make a report to the Throne, after which his Highness promises to furnish fuller information on the subject.
In spite of his assurances, I regret to say that no material advance has, so far as I can ascertain, been made towards the attainment of a uniform system of currency. At the same time it must be admitted that in certain respects at least the Chinese Government have shown some appreciation of the disadvantages of irresponsible action on the part of the provinces.
Restrictions have been placed on the issue of copper coin from the provincial mints, the experiment which his Excellency Chang Chih-tung was authorized to make of introducing a tael coinage has been stopped, and its failure seems to have convinced the central Government that the dollar must be adopted as the standard coin.
Apart from the above, and the visit of inspection which his Excellency Ch'ên Pi, the Vice-President of the Board of Finance, lately made of the provincial mints, China has not yet taken any effective measures towards accomplishing the difficult task she set herself by the second Article of the British Treaty of 1902.
I have, &c. (Signed) J. N. JORDAN.
Inclosure 1 in No. 1.
The Doyen of the Diplomatic Body to Prince Ching.
Imperial Highness,
Peking, June 12, 1907. THE serious disabilities under which foreign trade in China has been labouring by reason of the incessant and often violent fluctuations in the gold value of silver are well known to the Imperial Government of China, and remedial measures, particularly the early adoption of a uniform coinage, have, we are aware, received its careful attention within the last few years; none have, however, we believe, met with its approval, and the difficulty of the situation appears to be increasing, and proves ever more disturbing to foreign commercial interests in China.
The gravity of the situation thus created, and the difficulty in which the foreign Representatives at Peking find themselves to reassure their nationals, and to hold out to them hopes for a betterment, have led them to request me to address your Imperial Highness on the subject, and to ask if it be not possible that some assurance be given them that the measures now under consideration for the adoption of a uniform coinage are such that a favourable and early solution of the question can be hoped for. Such assurances they could in turn communicate to the commercial bodies engaged in the China trade, and they would unquestionably allay all apprehension on that point, and re-establish confidence, so essential to commercial undertakings of every nature,
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