COPY.
45
THE CHARTERED BANK OF INDIA, AUSTRALIA & CHINA,
38, Bishopsgate,
London, E.C.2.
6th July, 1931.
The Lords Commissioners of His Majesty's Treasury,
My Lords,
Whitehall, S.W.1.
Under the Bank's supplemental Charter dated
15th April, 1922, power was given to increase its Note
Circulation up to a total value equivalent to $30,000,000
Hongkong currency.
Up to the present this amount has sufficed to
meet our requirements, but as your Lordships are well aware,
the collapse in the price of Silver has had the effect that
the demand for Notes is steadily increasing and, although
we have so far kept within our limit, our Hongkong Manager
now considers that the present conditions being what they
are, the margin we have in hand is dangerously small.
The amount of the Notes outstanding on the 30th
ultimo for Hongkong and North China was $26,967,000, which
leaves us with a margin of only some $3,000,000 to fall
back on, which we consider inadequate to meet an ordinary
demand on this Bank for Notes, let alone any extraordinary
one.
We therefore make application to your Lordships
to be allowed to increase our Note Issue to the equivalent
of Hongkong $50,000,000 on the same conditions as regards
security as is provided for in our Charter.
We presume that in the ordinary course the proper
method of dealing with this would be to amend the provision
relating to the Note Issue contained in the draft Charter
which is at present under your Lordships' consideration.
We