[This Document is the Property of His Britannic Majesty's Government.]
CHINA TRADE.
CONFIDENTIAL.
[14580]
No. 1.
[April 19.]
292
SECTION 1.
Sir J. Jordan to Sir Edward Grey.—(Received April 19.)
(No. 142.) Sir,
Peking, April 1, 1909. WITH reference to your despatch No. 9 of the 11th January transmitting copy of a letter from the Chiua Association on the subject of currency in this country, and to my despatch No. 558 of the 11th December, 1908, regarding the unrestricted issue of Chinese banknotes, I have the honour to inclose copy of a note from the Doyen of the Diplomatic Body to Prince Ching of the 30th March in which further information is called for respecting the measures contemplated by the Board of Finance for controlling the issue of notes, and inquiry is made as to the date when the introduction of a uniform national currency may be expected.
After this note had been drafted, a Decree appeared in the " Gazette," together with the Memorial upon which it was based which expressed the views of the Chinese Government at the present time on the question of currency. I have the honour to inclose translations of these documents, which postpone indefinitely any decision upon. this problem, and render ineffective the Decree of the 5th October, 1908 (inclosed in my despatch No. 461 of the 16th October), by which a uniform tael currency was ordained.
That the introduction of the tael currency was being reconsidered had been generally reported in official circles for some months past, and was indeed practically admitted by the Wai-wu Pu in their reply of the 23rd February to inquiries which I had made, on behalf of the Governor of Hong Kong, as to whether steps would be taken to withdraw the subsidiary dollar coins with which the market is now flooded, especially in South China. It will be seen from the inclosed translation of the Wai-wu Pu Memorandum that a Memorial from the Government Council was awaited i before deciding upon the course of action to be pursued, and the publication of this paper now throws the whole question back to its starting point.
In a conversation with Mr. Liang Tun-yen at the Wai-wu Pu on the 30th March, I drew attention to the great lapse of time since China engaged to provide for a uniform national coinage, and expressed the opinion, which was general among foreigners, that China would never succeed in reforming her currency without expert advice from abroad.
He considered that if there was a possibility
Mr. Liang did not share this view. of introducing uniform coinage throughout such a vast country as China, the Chinese could do it themselves without foreign assistance. The recent Decree directed the Board of Finance to establish a special office for investigating the subject. I observed that time had not been wanting already for the study of the problem, complicated though it was, and asked if there was any one in the Board of Finance who understood it.
Mr. Liang mentioned the name of a subordinate official, who, I understand, has some pretensions to be considered an expert, but as it is well-known that the Board of Finance profits largely by the existing chaos in the monetary system there is no reason to expect that it will do more than report further on the difficulties of the question.
Mr. Liang then referred to the request of the Chinese Government that Article 8 of the "Mackay" Treaty should be made operative, and suggested unofficially that a Conference should be held in Peking at which this question, together with that of currency, mining regulations, &c., could be discussed.
I said that His Majesty's Government were perfectly prepared to carry out their engagements respecting an increase in the tariff as soon as China had brought the other lowers into line, but it would, of course, be expected that the unfulfilled Articles of the Mackay Treaty would be carried out. His suggestion appeared to me practical, provided that the Chinese Government appointed as its principal negotiator an official who was known to foreign Governments, as for example Mr. Tong Shao-yi. It was very difficult to deal adequately with a question such as currency through the medium of the Chinese language, and if the Chinese Government seriously desired to
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