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HONGKONG LEGISLATIVE COUNCIL
The vote for the redemption of subsidiary coinage which appears annually in the esti- mates is a rather misleading title. It refers to two separate matters. The first is the unavoidable and inevitable loss we have to sustain in consequence of the depreciation of our coinage, that is to say, the amount which has to be written off in the Treasury and which in 1910 is estimated at $70,440 | as against a vote of £40,000. For 1911 we have provided a larger sum, $75,000, which ought to cover this loss. The second matter included in the vote is loss on demonetisation, which is purely optional, During 1910 we have melted down in all $898,100 face value of subsidiary coinage, that is to say, $759,300 silver and $138,800 copper, and the cost of doing this over and above what we should have to have writ en off will amount to $83,357, for which no provision was made in the estimates.
The Colony for many years in the past made a very considerable profit by importing subsidiary coin which found its way into China. This was not to be avoided. The Colony was bound to import coin for its own needs, and if it disappeared out of the Colony and was taken away into China the Colony was compelled to go on importing in order to maintain its own supply. I do think, however, that a considerable part of the profit which was in earlier years made on that coinage ought to have been set apart to a reserve fund, but it was not.
It was spent. We have now in consequence to refund a part at least of this profit. We are therefore as a matter of fact only now liquidating liabilities which were created in that series of years when we took the profit and used it as a portion of our annual revenue. I have endeavoured to ascertain the amount of profit which we made in that way. There are no separate records prior to the year 1872, but between the years 1872 and 1905 the profit which was credited to revenue amounted to $2,226,234. We began to lose the year that I came to the Colony, 1907, and the loss during the four years which have elapsed since then amounts to $793,293, so that we have only paid back a little more than one-third of the profit we have made, During these four years we have withdrawn silver subsidiary coius to the face value of $5,272,012.25 and copper to the face value of $255,086.23, or in actual coins we have withdrawn about 52 million silver and
about 25 million copper coins. The actual figures are 52,57 9,488 in silver and 25,508,623 of
copper.
I need hardly remind you that this question of the redundancy of our own coinage and the loss we have had to incur in the endeavour to rehabilitate it, is quite a separate aspect of the "Subsidiary Coinage Question" from the currency of Chinese coins in this Colony. I am glad to see that of late one important company is discriminating between Hongkong and Chinese coinage and is now refusing to receive Chinese coins. I think that we may anticipate there is a prospect of a termination of these difficulties. China is taking certain steps towards the reorganisation of her currency. However that may be, the Treasurer reports, so far as our own coinage is concerned, that during the recent financial panic among the Chinese the discount on Hongkong silver coins fell to only three per cent, and that copper now stands at from two to five per cent, discount only. He anticipates that when trade revives, and there is a greater demand for silver, the discount will largely decrease and very probably reach par. Once our subsidiary coinage has reached par it will be an easier matter for us to deal with the question of alien coinage in this Colony, if it be necessary to take any particular steps in that direction. You will, I am sure, agree with me that the demonetisation of upwards of 77 million coins at a cost of over 7 lakhs constitutes a very substantive step towards the rehabilation of our currency, and is very creditable to the Colony in view of the fin- ancial difficulties of these four years.
The next financial minute, regarding which I have a few words to say, is No, 104, that is, the vote for $309,479 for the resumption of land, You will find in the estimates for the current year a sum of $374,805 for the resumption of land for a railway station. The sum now before you relates to the same matter, and the only reason it was brought before the Council to-day is because the land was inaccurately described in the estimates as being for a railway station. In all prob- ability, it will not now be used for a railway station. You will see from the vote that we have made a saving of about $65,000 on the anticipated price. The financial minute, therefore, which you are asked to approve does not involve any new or unauthorised
HONGKONG LEGISLATIVE COUNCIL expenditure from what was sanctioned by the Legislative Council when the estimates were passed.
The third and only other vote on which I wish to remark is No. 101, a sum of $55,500 iu aid of the vote, public works extraordinary. This refers to the site of four houses which separate the old western market from Mor- rison Street. Three of them have collapsed and the other, together with one which was already Government property, are reported by the Building Authority to be unfit for habitation.
At the present moment we are
in process of rebuilding the western market, which is very dilapidated and we are adding a second storey to it. Even with this in- creased accommodation the demand for shops and stalls will in all probability not be met. The market is in a very populous district and there is a great demand for stalls. The present moment, therefore, is an exceedingly favourable one for resumption, because we only have to pay the price of the land instead of having to pay also for the price of build- ings erected upon it. If we do not take this opportunity new houses will be erected and we should have to pay for them as well as for the land itself. The market is a very remunerative work, and a revenue of some $30,000 per annum is expected from the new building. The cost of the present improve- ment is $100,000, and I am informed the value it is proposed to pay for this land, $55,000, is very reasonable and proper.
The motion was agreed to.
Financial
THE COLONIAL SECRETARY, by com- mand of His Excellency the Governor, laid on the table the report of the Finance Com- mittee (No. 17) and moved its odoption.
THE COLONIAL TREASURER second- ed, and the motion was agreed to.
Public Works Committee
THE DIRECTOR OF PUBLIC WORKS by command of His Excellency the Governor, laid on the table the report of the Public Works Committee (No. 8)
Liquors Rebate
THE COLONIAL SECRETARY--Sir, I beg to move the following resolution:-Re-
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solved that the sum of $112 as an Import Allowance for the year 1910 be paid out of the Public Revenue of the Colony as a rebate in part to the Naval Authorities in respect of the duties paid on intoxicating liquors (not being Naval Stores the property of His Majesty) consumed at the Officers' Mess at the Royal Naval Hospital and at the Engi- neers' Mess in His Majesty's Dockyard." This vote is rendered necessary by the in- clusion of the institutions mentioned in the rebate system,
THE COLONIAL TREASURER second- ed, and the motion was agreed to.
Questions Answered
THE HON. MR. H. E. POLLOCK had given notice of the following questions:
1. What would be (approximately) the cost of turfing and laying out and enclo-ing the plot of ground to the west of the Hongkong Club in such a manner as to make it uniform with the adjacent plot of ground to the west of it?
2. What work, if any, has been done in con- nection with the promised erection of a light on Kap Sing Island, at the Southern entrance to the Capsuimu: Pass? Has any contract been entered into with reference to this work? If not, why not? If so, what is the contract date for the completion of the work?
3. What is the contract date for the completion of the new Harbour of Refuge at Mong-Kok Tsui ?
4. What is the estimated saving of expenditure to be gained by the omis: ion to erect a clock tower on the new Post Office, as was originally designed?
5. Will the Government lay before the Council the information, which is in its possession, with reference to the prospects of a wireless tele- graphy station, for the signalling of typhoons, being established on some island of the Pratas Group?
THE COLONIAL SECRETARY replied to the questions as under:-
1. "Not less than $4,000.”"
2. A tender by Messrs. Chance Bros. & Co. for the necessary apparatus for a fifth order light and for a fog bell together with the struc- ture to support them has been accepted in Eng- land. The apparatus and structure will be sent out to the Colony as soon as they are completed.
3. The contract date for the completion of the new Harbour of Refuge at Mongkoktsui is the 26th October, 1915. The amount of the contract is $2,018,002,54
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