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(1) She will secure a large supply of silver
immediately at a near source of supply.
(2) It will be possible at once to count the silver as part of India's reserve.
(3) It is not suggested that interest should
be paid on the loan.
(4) The silver will not necessarily have to
be returned en bloc.
(5) The silver can be held in the reserve in the form of dollars for eventual return, though
they can, if necessary, be turned into rupces. (The silver is 900 fine and there- fore convenient for coinage into rupees).
Whether the movement of the 7 million dollarg from Hong Kong to India could be kept secret is doubt- ful. Ordinarily it could not, but with the supplies passing through Hong Kong, from America it might be
Addis proposes to consult Hong Kong, on this
Possible.
point eventually.
AP.S.
I am sending a similar letter to Abrahams.
Yours sincerely.
(fa). St. Bechett
for
ag Collins
Since I wrote the above Beckett makes the suggestion that the silver should be lent to India as in my scheme, but left in the oustody of the Hong Kong Government at the disposal of the Government of India. This would presumably enable it to be included in the figures of the Indian reserve - and save freight and insurance,