10,512.
PUBLIC RECORD OFFICE
ཟ། ། ། ‛།།
C.O.
Reference :-
885
ALLY WITHOUT PERMISSION OF THE BE REPRODUCED PHOTOGRAPHIC-
COPYRIGHT PHOTOGRAPH-NOT TO
12 PUBLIC RECORD OFFICE, LONDON
:
SIR,
No. 181.
(WEST INDIES.)
LAW OFFICERS to COLONIAL OFFICE.
Temple, 16th August 1878.
We were honoured with Mr. Bramston's letter of the 22nd of March last, stating that he was directed by the Secretary of State for the Colonies to transmit for our consideration the following documents :-
1. A letter from the Lords of the Treasury to the Colonial Office, under date
16th January 1878;
2. A bound volume containing at page 1 the original Charter of the Colonial Bank granted in 1836, and at page 32 the Supplemental Charter of that Bank granted in 1838;
3. Two papers printed for the use of the Colonial Office, West Indian, No. 27 and
No. 32;
and Mr. Bramston was to invite our attention to the 5th section of the Colonial Bank Act 1856 (19 Viet c. 3., Local and Personal).
2. That Mr. Bramston was also to refer us to the report with which we favoured the Earl of Carnarvon on 1st July 1876, a copy of which will be found at page 9 of the printed paper No. 27.
3. That since the date of that report the Legislatures of various Colonies in which the Colonial Bank carried on business had enacted laws for demonetising Spanish, Mexican, and Columbian dollars. That it was necessary for the Secretary of State to authorise those enactments by telegraphic instructions, in order to prevent certain Colonies from being inundated with dollars imported below their legal value; and it was therefore decided to deal with the matter in that manner, instead of by Order in Council as suggested by us in July 1876.
4. That the Trinidad law would be found at page 22 of the printed paper No. 27, the British Guiana law at page 20 of the printed paper No. 32, and the Jamaica law at page 36, the St. Lucia law at page 39, the St. Kitts law at page 48, the Antigua law at page 49, the Bermuda law at page 51, and the Doininica law at page 52 of the last-mentioned paper, No. 32.
5. That it would be scon that Trinidad, British Guiana, Jamaica, and St. Lucia only declared that the dollar should no longer be à legal tender; while St. Kitts, Antigua, and Dominica went further, and provided that where in any contract, &c. for payment of money entered into before the passing of the Act any sum or amount was expressed in dollars, the term dollar should be taken to mean the sum of 4s. 2d. of British money; and Bermuda declared that no person in those islands should be bound or obliged to roceive payment in any foreign silver coins,
6. That the demonetisation of the dollar had been effected only by local ordinances and not by any Royal Proclamation, but you apprehended that the case was not affected by the absence of any such proclamation.
7. That the existing depreciation of silver would give the bank an advantage over the holders of notes, if the notes might still be lawfully redeemed in Spanish or Mexican dollars, and Mr. Bramston was to request us to be good enough to favour you with our opinion:-
(1.) Whether the Colonial Bank was entitled to redeem its notes by payment in Spanish or Mexican dollars in those Colonies (as Trinidad and British Guiana). in which the Legislature had only declared that the dollar should no longer be a legal tender.
(2.) Whether the Colonial Bank was so entitled in those Colonies (as Antigua and Dominica) in which the Legislature had further declared that the term dollar in any contract existing at the passing of the Act should be taken to mean the sum of 48. 2d. of British money or (as in Bermuda) that no person should be bound to receive payment in any foreign silver coins.
(3.) Whether the Colonial Bank Act of 1856 was to be considered to be an Act of Parliament extending to the Colony within the meaning of the 2nd section of ▲ 18916.-176. 25.—12/84.
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