OP Y.
Translation.
4390
Enclosure 2.
(A.)
Rece
IRESE 6 FEB 13
44
Extract from Chung Ngoi San Po, Hongkong, 6th. January, 1913
Further explanation in connection with the legal tender of
the Colony.
With reference to the paragraph in our issue of the day
before yesterday under the heading "Misunderstanding should be
removed" to the effect that as stated by the Government any work-
-man in any dock or other place has the right to demand payment of
his wages to be made in Hongkong coins if under 82 and in Hongkong
notes or silver dollars if in excess of 82, though many people may
have misunderstood our meaning and supposed this was a new law to
be enacted, in reality it is nothing of the sort; for no civilized
nation should fail to uphold its own legal tender nor accept the
money of another nation at random. Thus the Hongkong Government accepts payments in Hongkong coins if under 82 and Hongkong notes if in excess of $2; and this rule is followed by most of the foreign firms, and factories. However, time and usage have led to the acceptance of the money of other nations in the Colony. As to the Tramway Company, by its original regulations, Hongkong silver only was to be accepted and it was merely in order to accord with the custom of commercial circles that Chinese coins were accepted by the Company. Now since on account of the depreciated value of the Chinese coins, the Company has sustained heavy losses and further the Government has been injuriously affected, therefore the original regulation is enforced, but it is no ordinance newly
enacted in the case.