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APPENDIX No. 1.
MEMORANDUM by Mr. W. G. Gulland.
By the Tables A and B, given below, it will be seen that the preponderance of the trade of the Straits Settlements is greater than ever with gold countries.
The figures are taken from the 1900 Blue-Book,
(A.)
IMPORTS (including Treasure), 1900.
|From Silver From Gold Countries. Countries.
which is the latest the writer has at his command, and as they include specie, he is unable to compare the increase with the figures given to Lord Herscholl's Committee, which dealt only with merchandise.
(B.)
EXPORTS (including Treasure), 1900.
To Silver Countries.
To Gold Countries.
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PUBLIC RECORD OFFICE
Dollars.
United Kingdom
Dollars 27,190,493
United Kingdom
British Possessiona
Foreign Countries (including
British Malaya).
28,654,345 42,337,419
76,929,734 70,389,800
British Possessions
Foreign Countries (including
British Malaya).
Total ..
If British Malaya on Gold basis
105,584,079 | 139,917,712
43,407,246 48,407,246
Total.
If British Malaya on Gold basis
60,176,833 185,324 958
As a great deal has been said as to the advantage of a low silver ratio, in dealing with other countries, Table Cia of interest as showing how, during the years 1896 to 1900, Rangoon has held her own as com- pared with Siam and Saigon, silver countries, in the
Dollars.
--
Dollars.
39,048,756
13,699,105 11,094,768
49,822,205 85,490,538
63,521,310 138,634,002
23,741,012 23,741,912
39,779,898 159,375,974
The Blue-Book,
supplying of rice to the Straits. above mentioned, only gives the figures back to 1896, but, no doubt, the Colonial Office could supply those earlier, if it be deemed desirable.
}
(C.)
IMPORTS from
1896.
1897.
1898.
1899.
1900.
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Reference :-
C.O. 882
7PUBLIC RECORD OFFICE, LONDON
ALLY WITHOUT PERMISSION OF THE BE REPRODUCED PHOTOGRAPHIC- COPYRIGHT PHOTOGRAPH—NOT TO
Dollars.
Dollars.
Dollars.
Burmah -
7,626,749
3,378,491
9,905,407
Siam
11,877,193
16,009,388
French Indo-China
6,171,404
10,173,558
24,675,346
29,561,437
14,426,346
5,354,138
29,681,891
Dollars.
7,805,356
14,128,064
5,204,715
27,138,135
Dollara
8,190,273
14,605,549
6,283,217
29,085,039
2. 2hd. Average for the
18. 10дd.
lat May
24.
1st May
21.
lat May
year.
2s. -id.
Jet May
The writer does not know the yearly average.
The alteration in the Indian currency cannot be said to have affected the Straits trade generally in any way. We get opium and gunny bags from Cal- cuits, and have to pay the prices current there. When silver falls it takes a greater number of dollars to buy the same quantity of opium; had India still been on a silver basis, this would not have been the case, and if the Straits goes on a gold standard, she will no doubt deal with India on more even condi- tions than at present.
Granted that the Straits people have been in the habit of looking at the currency question from the point of view that they considered affected their own particular interest, an impartial consideration of the facts, in all their bearings, would seem to prove that exporters do not gain by cheap silver as much as they think, and on the other hand, there is every reason to fear that importers will not benefit by gold standard to the extent they anticipate
The price of Straits produce, with very few elvep- tions, is governed entirely by its gold value in Europe and America, and although cheap silver may cause that value to seem high, when stated in Mexican dollars, still the effect is to stimulate produce, and Fo end, sooner or later, in overstocking the European markets, thus driving down the gold value, and bringing about a like drop in the Straits. It is really the buyer in the gold country that in the long run benefits from the fall in silver.
t:849.
The articles produced in the Straits are special pro- ducts of its own, and, for the most part, are not pro- curable elsewhere, or, if so, it is from a country on a gold footing, viz., tin from Netherlands India, and pepper from India.
It has been said that to adopt a fixed value would merely be to shift the burden from the shoulders of the European to those of the Chinese, but this, like many other current expressions, will not bear looking into, as the Chinaman would run no more risk than he does at present in dealing with silver countries, and would have the advantage of steadier markets at his base in the Straits. What he might lose in some ways he would gain in others.
Apart from the advantage the colony would gain in its daily dealings, from a fixed value, the great benefit it would derive would be the doing away of the objec tion that Europeans have to investing capital in silver securities, which of late has told greatly against the development of the Straits Settlements.
The Chinese have hitherto shown great reluctance to investing capital in any undertaking not under their own personal control, and nearly all the works of public utility that exist in the colony have been carried out by means of European capital. These con- cerns some years ago could borrow money at 4 per cent, but now find it difficult to obtain the necessary funds in any quantity at 6 per cent. The same dis-
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