1
anslation.
1.
G.V.
2915
MEMORANDUM
RECE
AN
7190870
(communicated on January 27
!!
2515
JAN 23 1908,
365
The German Government have been furnished' with
the following statements respecting the measures which
the British Government have been obliged to adopt in
connection with the high rate of exchange of the dollar
in Eastern Asia and the salaries of their officials at
Hongkong:
2
*Until the year 1902 all salaries of Government
officials at Hongkong were fixed in dollars.
From
that time onwards they have been paid in sterling.
2
All salaries fixed in sterling were paid on the
15th of each month according to the average rate of
exchange for the preceding month. In order to make
good to those officials whose salaries were fixed pre-
vious to 1902 the loss entailed through the deprecia-
tion of the dollar and the increase in the cost of liv-
ing, these salaries were raised to the nominal rate of
37- per $ by the insertion of an exchange compensation,
which appears in Hongkong from the year 1903 onwards.
The resulting amounts (in shillings) were then con-
verted into pounds and paid over to the officials in
dollars