Hong Kong Annual Administration Reports, 1841–1941
COLONIAL REPORTS-ANNUAL.-
The balance to the credit on the year's working was $200,078 and the assets and liabilities account showed on the 31st December a credit balance of $4,490,266.
The following is a statement of the revenue and expenditure of the Colony for the five years 1916-1920 :—
Year Revenue ($) Expenditure ($) 1916 13,833,387 11,079,915 1917 15,058,105 14,090,828 1918 18,665,248 16,252,172 1919 16,524,975 17,915,925 1920 14,689,672 14,489,594The amount of the consolidated loan stands at £1,485,733. Against this there is at credit of the Sinking Fund a sum of £338,687. The Local Loan under Ordinance No. 12 of 1916 amounts to $3,000,000 and there are the sums of $438,203 and £84,751 at credit of the Sinking Fund.
During the period 1911-1920 the assessment of the whole Colony has risen from $11,161,390 to $17,408,959, an increase in rateable value of $6,247,569.
The circulation on the 31st December of notes of the three Banks having authorised issues was as follows :—
Bank Amount ($) Hongkong & Shanghai Banking Corporation 26,397,580 Chartered Bank of India, Australia & China 10,061,863 Mercantile Bank of India, Limited 1,000,009 Total 37,459,452The currency of the Colony consists, in addition to the notes of these Banks, of British, Hongkong, and Mexican Dollars and of subsidiary coin, which continued at par throughout the year.
The total issue of subsidiary coins less those demonetized now amounts to $20,764,370 nominal value, and they were up to the year 1905 readily absorbed at par, large quantities being taken by the neighbouring provinces of China. During 1916 ten cent pieces of the face value of $5,028,000 were shipped to Calcutta for purposes of demonetization. The discount which prevailed between 1905 and 1916 may be attributed to the immense quantity of similar coin which was minted at Canton as well as to the amount of Hongkong coin minted largely in excess of the needs of the Colony by itself. In 1905 the Hongkong Government ceased to issue any subsidiary coin and in 1906 it began a policy of demonetising all its subsidiary coin received as revenue. This policy was continuously followed till 1918 except during a brief period in 1911. Coin to the face value of $23,235,459 has thus been redeemed. The total issue by the Hongkong Government was of the face value of about $44,000,000.