All letters to be addressed to
'HE CHIEF MANAGER"
ILEGRAPHIC ADDRESS, IRADISE LONDON
137648/39
7226407/09
C O
2121
Reco
Ree 21 JAN 10,
THE MERCANTILE BANK OF INDIA LIMITED.
40. Thrend needle Street,
London'
21st January, 1910.
The Under Secretary of State for the Colonies,
Colonial Office,
Downing Street S.W.
sir,
I have to acknowledge receipt of your letter of 13th
inst. inviting attention to the communication addressed to
me by your department dated 8th November to which was
attached a draft of the proposed Ordinance for providing
27
the Colony of Hong Kong with a Government Note Issue.
I have hitherto deferred conveying to you the views of
my Directors on the proposal as we are not yet in possession
of our Kong Kong Manager's opinion, not only on the proposal
itself, but also as to its bearing upon this Bank's
application for the privilege of Note Issue which has for
some time past been under the consideration of the Colonial
Office and the Government of Hong Kong.
My Directors are of opinion that the Government proposal
as embodied in the draft ordinance if carried out cannot but
prove of great benefit to the community of Hong Kong,
especially the commercial and trading portion of it, and
also to the general interests of the Colony. It would at
once put an end to the injurious effects which have developed
out of the monopoly of note issue hitherto confined to two
private Banking Corporations, a monopoly which in its
present restricted form has proved totally inadequate to
the needs of the Colony and has, as I informed you in the
correspondence submitted to you on 4th May last, resulted
110-120/09.
in