39451
GENTI EMEN,
21
No 31.
COLONIAL OFFICE to CROWN AGENTS
[ Copy to fiorerier, 16 Desember, 1909.
Confidential L.F.]
Downing Street, 16 December, 1909.
I AM directed by the Earl of Crewe to acknowledge the receipt of your letter of the 4th December.* stating that you have made arrangements with the Bank of England to hold half of the Gold Reserve Fund of the Straits Settlements note issue in gold at your order.
Ordinance 4 of 1899
Ordiname 27 QË 1908.
Report of Straits Settlements Currency Comthettee
Manute of Evidence and Appendices of
2. Lord Crewe approves of your agreeing to the charge of 3 per cent. per annum which
Suut Settlements Currency Committee, the Bank propose to make for keeping the gold, and the Colonial Government is being informed accordingly.
3. I am to enclose, for transmission to the Bank as requested, copies of the papers noted in the margin dealing with the Straits Settlements note issue.
21
Standard Reserve would only be liable to make good any loss resulting from such
transactions.
The Crown Agents having considerable loan moneys lying idle naturally lent these moneys against the investment portion of the Note Guarantee instead of realizing securities belonging to the fund. Had the securities been realized, and the transfers under Section 7 (e) met out of the proceeds, the Note Guarantee Fund would have been diminished by the purchase price of the securities and the difference between the sale price and the purchase price only would have been credited or debited, as the case may have been, to the Gold-Standard Reserve.
here
5. The instructions contained in paragraph 3 of the letter have been noted I agree that the moneys belonging to the Gold Standard Reserve in the Crown Agents' possession should be kept in a separate pocket and invested from time to time. Under Section 11 (3), the Commissioners have power to invest the whole of
this Reserve.
I have, &c.,
JOHN ANDERSON
5119
I am, &c..
II. BERTRAM COX.
No. 32.
STRAITS SETTLEMENTS.
THE GOVERNOR to THE SECRETARY OF STATE.
(Confidential.)
MY LORD,
(Received 19 February, 1910.)
[Answered by No. 36,]
Government House, Singapore, 24th January, 1910.
I HAVE the honour to acknowledge the receipt of your Lordship's despatch (Confidential) of the 7th December.§ forwarding correspondence between your department and the Crown Agents on the subject of the Gold Reserve against the Straits Settlements Note Issue, and to make the following observations on the instructions given by your Lordship to the Crown Agents in your letter, 38893, of 7th December, 1909.||
2. The sum of $241,000 was required by the Tanjong Pagar Dock Board for a loan payment in Singapore under items 3 (1) and 3 (2) of the Schedule to Ordinance IV. of 1907. The money was paid out by the Currency Commissioners and treated as a remittance for investment. This remittance has to be met from loan funds in the hands of the Crown Agents, and the adjustment should be made by reducing the debt of the Currency Commissioners to the Loan Account, thus increasing the investment portion of the Note Guarantee Fund not regarded as security against the Currency Commissioners' debt. I submit, for your Lordship's information and consideration, copies of the entries in the Currency Commissioners' book showing the Currency Notes in circulation and Amount in Reserve on the date of this particular transaction, and of the entries relating to the next preceding transaction, which will show how the debt has been reduced.
4. With reference to the explanation in the concluding part of the 2nd para- graph of the same letter, that "the debt of the Currency Commissioners, which is now being paid off, lies against the Gold Standard Reserve and not against the Note Issue Reserve," I ask leave to submit to your Lordship the following considera- tions:-
This debt was incurred by the Currency Commissioners in connection with their operations under Section 7 (c) of Ordinance IV. of 1899, viz., the issue of gold in London in exchange for notes received here and it would seem, therefore, properly chargeable to the Note Guarantee Fund and not to the Gold Standard Reserve. The profits on these transfers, viz., the difference between the value at the fixed rate of 2s. 4d: to the dollar and the actual money paid at the rates of 2s. 3d. and 23. 31 d. have been credited to the Gold Standard Reserve, and similarly the Gold
↑ [Cd. 1556] May, 1903,
[Cd. 1585] May, 1903.
• No. 29.
L.F. transmitting copy of Nos. 28 and 30.
| No. 30.
PUBLIC RECORD OFFICE
Reference :-
TTT:L lcO. 882
PUBLIC RECORD OFFICE, LONDON ALLY WITHOUT PERMISSION OF THE BE REPRODUCED PHOTOGRAPHIC- COPYRIGHT PHOTOGRAPH—NOT TO
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