TELEGRAPHIC ADDRESS. PISTAIL. All letters to be addressed to the BHARTERED BANK OF INDIA, AUSTRALIA & CHINA.
Cuppy
91
Chartered Bank of India, Australia & China,
$604
(1)
The
Sir,
Hatton Court, Threadneedle Street
London
15th November/9009
Under Secretary of State,
Colonial Office, S..
37433
IRECR Rre 16 NOV 09
Gou
We beg to acknowledge receipt of your letter No. 35645/
1909 dated 8th instant enclosing copy of a draft Ordinance to
provide for the issue in Hongkong of Government Paper Currency,
and enquiring whether we desire to add to the observations
contained in our letter of 13th September last.
We confirm what we wrote in our said letter and in
continuation and extension thereof we would draw attention to
the following points:-
The entire absence of any control by the Hongkong
Government over the Silver Currency in the Colony must sooner
or later involve the Government in serious difficulty because
of their obligation under the proposed Ordinance to issue notes
to any extent in exchange for current coin, viz: Mexican Dollars
& British Dollars. Under the present Currency Enactment,
Mexican Dollars, and British Dollars are legal tender to any
amount, and can be and are imported into Hongkong without
restriction. British Dollars can be minted by the public
to any extent. This might lead to an accumulation of silver
coinage by the Government to an extent which might readily
prove disastrous, The only remedy for this would be that
the Government assume control of the Silver Currency in the Colony by closing the Mints in India to the coinage of silver into Pritish Dollars on behalf of any one tendering the necessary silver, and also by preventing the free import of Mexican Dollars.
Such a procedure has not been considered,
so far as we are aware, and if
enacted we believe that it
would
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