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9
26608
GENTLEMEN,
No. 14.
COLONIAL OFFICE to CROWN AGENTS.
[Answered by Nus, 15 and 17.]
Downing Street, 14 August, 1909. Win reference to the letter from this Department of the 18th May,* I am directed by the Earl of Crewe to transmit to you, for your information and guidance, a copy of a confidential despatcht from the Governor of the Straits Settlements with regard to the sale of the old Straits Settlements dollars.
27983
No. 15.
I am, &c.,
H. BERTRAM COX.
SIB,
No. 17.
CROWN AGENTS to COLONIAL OFFICE.
(Received 16 October, 1909.)
[Answered by L.F. transmitting copy of No. 19. See also No. 26.]
Whitehall Gardens, London, S.W., 15th October, 1909. REFERRING to your letter of the 14th August last, No. 26608/1909,* and in continuation of our letter of the 20th August, I have the honour to enclose a copy of a letter which we have received from our bullion brokers on the subject of the position of the silver market.
2. In the circumstances mentioned there would not appear to be any prospect of our being able to sell at the price of 24d. authorised by the Governor's despatch of the 15th July, and the Colonial Government might therefore consider the desir- We would suggest ability of further reducing the price at which we should sell. that a telegram might be sent to the Governor on the subject.
PUBLIC RECORD OFFICE
Reference :--
EPLENIC.O. 882
6
ALLY WITHOUT PERMISSION OF THE BE REPRODUCED PHOTOGRAPHIC- COPYRIGHT PHOTOGRAPH-NOT TO
PUBLIC RECORD OFFICE, LONDON
SIR,
CROWN AGENTS to COLONIAL OFFICE. (Received. 21 August, 1909.)
[Copy to Governor, 25 August, 1909. Confidential. L.F.]
Whitehall Gardens, London, S. W., 20th August, 1909.
I HAVE the honour to acknowledge the receipt of your letter of the 14th instant, No. 26608/1909,‡ and to inform you that we cannot at present obtain 24d. an oz. for the silver which the Government of the Straits Settlements wishes to sell. The present price of silver is about 23 7/16d. per oz., and we gather that no particular change in the value can be anticipated at present. We will, however, watch the
market.
It will, of course, be noticed that, during all the time of waiting for a rise in silver, interest is being lost.
I have, &c..
33231
SIR,
No. 16.
W. H. MERCER.
CROWN AGENTS to COLONIAL OFFICE.
(Received 9 October, 1909.)
[Answered by No. 18.]
Whitehall Gardens, London, S. W., 8th October, 1909.
I HAVE the honour to state, for the information of the Secretary of State, that on the 1st instant we received the following telegram from the Government of the Straits Settlements :--
"Remitted £70,000 Mercantile Bank of India on account of gold reserve
Government Note Issue."
and we have duly received this amount from the Bank.
2. It would appear from the wording of the telegram either that legislation has been passed authorizing the keeping of the gold reserve in London instead of Singapore or that the Currency Commissioners have realized a portion of the old dollars and have remitted the proceeds to us in part liquidation of the advances which have been made here to the Currency Commissioners from Straits Loan Funds against the security of the Currency Commissioners Investments.
3. In either case we conclude that the money should be used to reduce the advances, and we have therefore applied it for this purpose, and the indebtedness of the Currency Commissioners to Loan Funds has now been reduced to about £78,000.
4 We should be glad to be informed of the actual position of the matter, in order that, if further remittances are made, they may be dealt with in the right
I have, &c.,
way.
• No. 8.
↑ No. 11.
R. L. ANTROBUS.
t No. 14.
(A/143 Coins.)
GENTLEMEN,
I have, &c.,
H. MARTIN,
Enclosure in No. 17.
for Crown Agents.
Messrs. PIXLEY & ABELL to CROWN AGENTS.
No. 27, Old Broad Street, E.C., 13th October, 1900,
Straits Settlements.
WE beg to confirm our letter of the 1st September with regard to the position of the silver market.
Since that date there has been no change in the general conditions and the price has fluctuated between 23 d., being sustained partly by the demand for China, partly by various Continental orders, and to a lesser degree by the demand for the Indian bazaars.
The adverse factors are the heavy stocks all over the world, and so far as the London market is concerned this feature has been aggravated by the hardening tendency in the money market; as the money position will in all probability become worse between now and the end of the year, we fear this will postpone for some little time yet any recovery in price to the level at which the Straits Government wish to commence their sales, and we therefore take this opportunity of letting you know the present position.
We do not anticipate any heavy fall, and we think that for the present 234d. should prove to be the bottom of the market, but unless the Continent buys largely we can see no demand in the near future which will raise the price to the desired level.
We will write you again on this subject when there is any change in the position.
33231
GENTLEMEN,
No. 18.
We are, &c.,
PIXLEY & ABELL.
COLONIAL OFFICE to CROWN AGENTS.
[Answered by No. 21.]
Downing Street, 19 October, 1909.
I AM directed by the Earl of Crewe to acknowledge the receipt of your letter of the 8th of October§ with regard to a telegram from the Government of the Straits Settlements reporting a remittance of £70,000 on account of the gold reserve of the Government Note Issue.
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• No. 14.
† No. 15.
‡ No. 11.
No. 16.
B