mim
4.
22
Dollars from the Currency Note Reserve, to the amount of $2,400,000 have already been sent to the Bombay Mint as the initial consignment, in accordance with the wishes of the Government of India, and on the 21st instant and fortnightly thereafter $900,000 will be despatched, a like amount in the new Straits dollar being received from Bombay. At this rate about 21,000,000 of the new dollar should be received in the Colony within a year from the date of the arrival of the first supply.
ນ.
I propose to put the new dollars into circulation after retaining a portion of each consignment for the Currency Note Reserve, by issuing them to the banks, by making payments from the Treasury, and by the encashment of currency notes presented. The old coins received from the banks in exchange for the Straits dollars will, in their turn, be sent to Bombay to be re-minted.
21
6 The Treasurer has estimated the cost of re-minting the old coins at about. per cent, including all charges here and at Bombay. The amount of British and Mexican dollars in the Colony and Federated Malay States cannot, as has already been said, be accurately ascertained, but supposing that the Government has ultimately to deal with a total of $40,000,000, the cost, on this basis, would be $900,000. This would not be an excessive price to pay, even were the result intended only to give the Colony a currency of its own. As, however, I propose that the Federated Malay States should contribute to the cost of conversion on some equitable basis to be settled hereafter, the amount payable from Colonial funds should be considerably below the amount stated above. A vote of $150,000 has already been taken in Legislative Council to meet the initial cost, and further neces- sary provision will be made in the Estimates for 1904.
7. No fresh issue of currency notes is, for the present, being made by the Commissioners. It would be manifestly unwise to make further issues, so long as fresh supplies of British and Mexican dollars can be imported. The Commis- sioners hold, however, a large stock of notes ($3,820,000), which can be issued whenever necessary, and when all the notes now on order have arrived, there will be $8,600,000 available.
31484
(No. 317.)
23
No. 37.
THE SECRETARY OF STATE to THE GOVERNOR. [Copy to Treasury, May 25, 1904. L.F.] [Answered by No. 49.]
Downing Street, 25th September, 1903. SIR,
I HAVE the honour to inform you that His Majesty will not be advised to exercise his powers of disallowance with regard to Ordinance No. XIII. of 1903 of the Legislature of the Straits Settlements, entitled "An Ordinance to amend The Currency Note Ordinance, 1899,'" a transcript of which accompanied your despatch, No. 309, of the 28th of July.*
I would point out, however, that the Ordinance appears to require amendment in one respect. While Sub-section (4) of the new Section 7e provides for certain loss being made good out of general revenue, the charge for re-minting, &c., in Sub-section (3) of the same section is to be part of the expenses "of and incidental to the execution of this Ordinance," and, therefore, under Sections 8 (4) (a) and 11 of the principal Ordinance, is to be met from interest on the invested portion of the Note Guarantee Fund, and only secondarily from general revenue. This is wrong principle, and in practice will put a stop to Depreciation Fund investments.
The provision to which I take exception is evidently the result of an oversight in drafting the Ordinance, since in paragraph 6 of your despatch, No. 351,† you make it clear that the cost of re-minting will be met from general revenue.
in
The necessary amendment might be effected by omitting the last 15 words of Sub-section 3 and inserting the word "and" instead, so as to combine it with Sub- section 4, and omitting the word "forthwith" in the fifth line of that section.
J. CHAMBERLAIN.
I have, &c.,
I have, &c..
F. A. SWETTENHAM.
34283
No. 38.
PUBLIC RECORD OFFICE
Reference :-
C.O. 882
6
PUBLIC RECORD OFFICE, LONDON]]
ALLY WITHOUT PERMISSION OF THE BE REPRODUCED PHOTOGRAPHIC- COPYRIGHT PHOTOGRAPH—NOT TO]
34283
No. 35.
THE SECRETARY OF STATE to THE GOVERNOR. (Sent 6 p.m., 19th September, 1903.) [Answered by No. 45.]
TELEGRAM.
Referring to your despatch, No. 351,* paragraph 3, proposal approved; but Proclamation should be separate, and subsequent to Proclamation referred to in paragraph 2.-CHAMBERLAIN.
34283
No. 36.
THE SECRETARY OF STATE to THE GOVERNOR.
(Sent 5.20 p.m., 19th September, 1903.) TELEGRAM.
(Paraphrase.)
Your Government will, of course, give no pledge that it will ultimately give new dollars in exchange for all Mexican and British dollars in Federated Malay States and Straits Settlements.-CHAMBERLAIN.
⚫. No. 34.
THE SECRETARY OF STATE to THE GOVERNOR.
(Confidential.)
SIR,
Downing Street, 25th September, 1903. I HAVE the honour to acknowledge the receipt of your despatch, No. 351, of the 22nd ultimo, on the subject of the currency, and to inform you that I approve generally of the proposals contained therein.
2. I have already informed you by my telegram of the 19th instant that I approve of your issuing a Proclamation as suggested in paragraph 3 of your despatch, but that the Proclamation should be separate from, and subsequent to, the Proclamation referred to in paragraph 2.
3. I concur in the opinion expressed in the last paragraph of your despatch as to the inadvisability of making any further issues of currency notes so long as fresh supplies of British and Mexican dollars can be imported. When the importa- tion of these dollars is prohibited, there will be no objection to further issues of notes, so long as these notes are only issued against dollars to be held by the Currency Commissioners of course in the holdings of the Currency Commissioners dollars sent to India for re-coinage are included. The issues, however, even on this condition, should perhaps only be made if the Government wishes to obtain a larger supply of dollars for re-minting and should not be too large, since it may be advisable to keep in hand a considerable stock of notes to be issued if necessary in case of any sudden emergency. I shall be glad to be informed from time to time by telegraph of the total amount of any new issues.
4. Until the ratio of the dollar to the sovereign has been fixed, it is inadvisable that the Currency Commissioners should make any remittances to this country or India for investment. A contraction of the circulation is necessary for carrying out the proposals of the Currency Committee, and if the Currency Commissioners buy remittances by the issue of dollars from the currency reserve or by the issue of fresh notes the circulation in the Colony will be increased.
• No. 27.
↑ No. 34.
* No. 35.