176
Enclosure 2 in No. 233.
COLONIAL SECRETARY, Straits Settlements, to CROWN AGENTS.
GENTLEMEN,
Colonial Secretary's Office, Singapore, 18 December, 1907. REFERRING to your letter of the 8th November, I note that you had sold £87,525 6s. 8d. of 23 per cent. guaranteed (Irish land) stock, and had trans- ferred £80,000 temporarily from loan account to the Currency Commissioners'
account.
2. There have been further sales y telegraphic transfers since, which, with the above-mentioned sums, bring the total amount to £583,552,
3. If you have sufficient money on the loan account to meet these sales, the best course will be to transfer securities to the required amount for the Currency Commissioners' account to loan account; if not, you will use your discretion as to selling the securities or borrowing money.
4. The demand is now over, and it will probably not be long before the banks will be offering us telegraphic transfers on London, when the securities, if trans- ferred to loan account, could be retransferred back again.
5. With reference to paragraph 4 of your letter, it appears better that you should adjust the interest between the two accounts, as you are in a position to know how much interest the loan account could have obtained, which the Treasury here is not.
6. The suggestion made in your paragraph 5 had already been considered, and legislation is in course of being put through to enable the Currency Commissioners to keep part of their assets in your hands in the form of coins.
I have, &c.,
ARTHUR YOUNG,
Colonial Secretary, Straits Settlements.
177
Hong Kong and Shanghai Banking Corporation, delivery Thursday, 13th February."
2. We conclude that the sale of this transfer is on account of the £600,000 mentioned in the telegram from the Colonial Government of the 23rd of January, which we reported for the Secretary of State's information on that date.*
3. We are proposing to meet the payment by an advance at deposit rate of interest from the Straits Settlements Loan Account to the account of the Commis- sioners' of Currency Fund.
4. We conclude that the demonetization in Sumatra of the Straits Settlements currency, reported in the telegram from the Colonial Government of the 23rd of January, has thrown out the anticipations of the Government stated in the letter from the Colony of the 18th of December that previous drawings upon us would Le offset in the future by telegraph transfers in our favour, as no such transfers have reached us.
The Governor will, however, no doubt, report to the Secretary of State
in due course in what manner he proposes to deal with the emergency which has occurred. In the meantime, it appears clear that it is in the interest of the Colonial Government to provide, for the present at least, the necessary money from loan funds so long as they are available, and to defer the realisation of the securities of the Currency Commissioners' Fund until it is seen whether realisation is inevitable to adjust the account.
210
No. 235.
I have, &c.,
E. E. BLAKE.
PUBLIC RECORD OFFICE
Reference :--
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PILLICO. 882
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PUBLIC RECORD OFFICE, LONDON
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SIB,
Enclosure 3 in No. 233.
CROWN AGENTS to COLONIAL SECRETARY, Straits Settlements.
to
24 January, 1908.
I HAVE the honour to acknowledge the receipt of your letter of the 18th Governor, that December, and state, for the information of the we propose to treat the amounts which have been transferred from loan account to meet telegraph transfers as advances against the securities held on account of the Currency Commissioners. This will render it unnecessary to transfer any securities to loan account, and they can remain in the Currency Commissioners' account pend- ing final adjustment.
2. The advances amount to £345,000, and we propose to transfer interest from time to time from the Currency Commissioners' account to the loan account, calcu- lating it at the deposit rate of interest which the money would have earned if it had remained in the loan account.
I have, &c.,
5052
No. 234.
CROWN AGENTS to COLONIAL OFFICE. (Received February 12, 1908.)
E. E. BLAKE,
SIB,
In continuation of our letter of the 28th of January, I have the honour to state, for the information of the Secretary of State, that we received, on the 10th instant, a further telegram from the Government of the Straits Settlements as follows:
Whitehall Gardens, London, S.W., 11 February, 1908.
* Have sold on account of Currency Commissioners £89,598 4s. 4d. to
(No. 48.)
SIR,
THE SECRETARY OF STATE to THE GOVERNOR. [Answered by No. 247.]
Downing Street, 13 February, 1908.
I HAVE the honour to acknowledge the receipt of your despatch, No. 406, of the 2nd of October, and to transmit to you a copy of a letter from the Crown Agents for the Colonies with reference to the investment of the Depreciation Fund of the Currency Commissioners.
2. I entirely agree in the view taken by the Crown Agents as to the desirability of keeping in Consols a substantial portion of the fund or funds invested on behalf of the Commissioners.
6199
SIR,
No. 236.
CROWN AGENTS to COLONIAL OFFICE. (Received February 21, 1908.)
I have, &c.,
ELGIN.
Whitehall Gardens, London, S.W., 20th February, 1908.
In continuation of our letter of the 11th instant,§ I have the honour to report,
for the information of the Secretary of State, that we have received two further telegrams from the Government of the Straits Settlements as follows
17th February,” 1908.—
"Have sold by telegraphic transfer £50,000 Chartered Bank of India, Australia, and China, delivery Thursday, 20th February, on account of Currency Commissioners."
18th February, 1908.———
"Have sold on account of Currency Commissioners £30,000 by telegraphic transfer, payable 22nd February, Union Bank."
I have, &o.,
E. E. BLAKE.
• No. 233.
• No. 238.
+ No. 222.
‡ No. 227.
•
§ No. 234.
31300
Σ