1
414
Census of 1911 the total Chinese population amounted to 444,664 or
little short of twice the number ( 226,000) of $1 notes in
circulation.
8.
According to the return of the average amount
of Bank Notes in circulation and of specie in reserve in Hongkong
during the month ended 31st. May, 1912, the amount of notes of the
Hongkong and Shanghai Banking Corporation in circulation was
$19,384,339 and the specie held £14,000,000. The proportion of
gl notes (226,000) to the total issue was therefore 1.10%. It is
inconceivable therefore that, even if these notes were held by the
least educated classes of the community, the presentation of the
entire issue for encashment in a time of panic would have any
appreciable effect upon the monetary situation. Nor would the
argument be sensibly affected if the issue were increased to the
extent suggested.
9.
The ground upon which the original issue of
these notes was advocated, was the deterioration of the dollars
then current owing to the practice of chopping. In the improved
circumstances of the currency and in view of the fact that the
chopping of British Dollars is prohibited by the British Dollar
(Prohibition of Chopping) Ordinance, 1895, (No. 7 of 1895) this
argument no longer holds good but there remains the need for a
portable dollar and it is upon this ground and upon the ground
of the growth of the population that an increase in the issue is
now advocated.
10.
The lack of the important quality of portabili-
-ty in the standard coin is undeniable but it will be more fully appreciated when it is stated that the Mexican Dollar is in weight
and size almost the exact equal of the English five shilling piece although its purchasing power, taking the dollar at 2/-, is only two-fifths of that coin. The standard weight of the Mexican is 417.75 grains 27.070 grammes or roughly 1 ounce: therefore a person requiring to provide himself with purchasing power in this
coin