150
Settlements (Coinage) Order 1895, as relates to the metal, weight and fineness of the Straits Settlements fifty-cent piece.
Given at Singapore, this Fourth day of March, in the year of Our Lord One thousand nine hundred and seven.
By His Excellency's Command,
ARTHUR YOUNG,
Colonial Secretary.
GOD SAVE THE KING! The following is the Second Schedule to the Straits Settlements (Coinage) Order 1907 referred to above:-
STRAITS SETTLEMENTS FIFTY-CENT PIECE OR HALF-Dollar.
151
6. The banks and shipping companies whom I have already approached on the subject decline to undertake it, and I think the Government should, if it is to enter on exchange business at all, confine itself to giving gold in exchange for dollars.
14936
No. 212.
I have, &c.,
JOHN ANDERSON.
PUBLIC RECORD OFFICE
Reference :-
ITIL CO. 882
سلسلانس
| ALLY WITHOUT PERMISSION OF THE
} BE REPRODUCED PHOTOGRAPHIC-. COPYRIGHT PHOTOGRAPH-NOT TO
|| PUBLIC RECORD OFFICE, LONDON
Coin.
Standard Weight.
Least Current Weight.
Metal
Millesimal Fineness.
Graina. Grammes.
Grains.
Grammes.
SIR,
Straits Settlements Fifty-cent
piece or Half-dollar.
Silver
900
156
10.108
154
9.979
The remedy allowance for the Straits Settlements half-dollar shall be as follows:-
Grains.
14936
Weight per Plece.
Grammes.
1.0
0,065
Three thousandths.
No. 211.
Millesimal Finance.
THE GOVERNOR to THE SECRETARY OF STATE. (Received 27th April, 1907.)
(Confidential.)
MY LORD,
[Answered by No. 212.]
Government House, Singapore, 3rd April, 1907.
I HAVE the honour to acknowledge the receipt of your confidential despatch of the 8th ultimo, respecting the suggestion that the prohibition of the import of British and Mexican dollars should be withdrawn at an early date.
2. There is considerable force in your objection that the withdrawal of the prohibition might lead to attempts to pass these dollars into circulation until the new dollar has become firmly established.
3. Your suggestion that the Government should open bureaux of exchange had already been considered by me, and appeared to me open to very serious objection. There is no natural influx here now of British and Mexican dollars, and to meet fully the demands of returning immigrants would mean that this Government would have to import about three million dollars a year, and to hold a stock of at least & quarter a million dollars to cover a month's transactions.
4. Looking to the wide fluctuations in the silver market this would expose us not only to the risk of serious loss, but would inevitably compel this Government to speculate in silver. During the month exchange on Hong Kong has ranged from 44 discount to 104.
5. Whatever may be said of our undertaking such exchange bureaux for a strictly limited period, say, a year, until the old dollars have been entirely with- drawn, and the new dollar firmly established, I could not look upon the permanent establishment of such bureaux without apprehension.
• No. 207.
THE SECRETARY OF STATE to THE GOVERNOR. (Confidential.)
Downing Street, 2nd May, 1907. I HAVE the honour to acknowledge the receipt of your confidential despatch of the 3rd April,* on the subject of the importation of British and Mexican dollars into the Straits Settlements.
2. I note that you concur with me in thinking that it would not be desirable to withdraw the existing prohibition of the importation of such dollars until the new dollar has been firmly established. It will require about a year to complete the recoinage, and for this period, at any rate, it appears to me that the prohibition should be maintained.
3. The reason for your proposal, as given in your despatch, No. 12, of the 10th January,t was that, if British or Mexican dollars are not available in the Straits Settlements, the coolies returning with their savings (represented by Straits dollars) will be at the mercy of the money-changers in China. But it appears to me that, even if the heavier dollars come into the peninsula as the result of adopting your suggestion, the effect will merely be to substitute the local money-changers for those of China, and that the coolie is not likely to be greatly benefited thereby. The direct interest of the Government of the Straits Settlements in the matter lies in securing that the labour supply of the peninsula should not be prejudicially affected, and it appears to me that there would be real danger in this direction if the coolies find that they can only exchange their Straits dollars at an appreciable loss. The length to which the Colonial Government should go in anticipating this danger must depend on the view which they take of its importance. I am of opinion that it would be well to make the experiment for a limited period, as suggested in para- graph 5 of your despatch, of establishing a certain number of bureaux of exchange, but I will leave the solution of the difficulty to your discretion, subject only to the condition that the general importation of British and Mexican dollars be not allowed until the recoinage is complete.
I have, &o.,
17787
No. 218.
THE GOVERNOR to THE SECRETARY OF STATE. (Received 18th May, 1907.)
(No. 195.)
MY LORD,
ELGIN.
Government House, Singapore, 25th April, 1907. WITH reference to your Lordship's despatch, No. 829, of the 20th December last, I have the honour to forward herewith seven copies of a reprint of "The Currency Note Ordinance, 1899," as amended by subsequent legislation.
I have, &o.,
JOHN ANDERSON.
• No. 311.
↑ No. 198.
‡ No. 186.