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perienced by the native in transactions appertaining to his every day life, owing to the fluctuating value of the dollar. The ways and means for the proposed and much desired innovation must lie within the reach of the Committee and the experts who "are advising them. I would only like to make one or two more remarks.

1 read lately in the newspapers some of the pros and cons regarding this interesting and important question. It appears to me that the attempt to show that the Federated Malay States in some mysterious way owed its present prosperity to the decline of the dollar is rather difficult to understand. If it were so the thing could hardly have escaped the observation of the present High Commissioner, who, I take it, rather enter- tains a certain amount of fear that the fall in the ex- change value of the dollar owing to the superabundancy of silver might prove injurious to the commercial and industrial interests of the Colony and the neighbouring States, and is, therefore, anxious to have them placed on a gold standard.

On the other hand, this argument, to my lay mind, seems perfectly sound that a gold standard of coinage should rest on a gold basis, i.e., in the first place there ought to be in reserve a proportionate amount of gold, whether in bar or specie, to support the silver coins in circulation; and secondly, the amount of subsidiary coinage in circulation should be so regulated as not to excel the legitimate requirements of the Colony and the States comprised within the sphere of operation of the gold standard.

I presume that if these conditions were made sine quả non the matter could easily be settled by the Home Government guaranteeing the amount of silver coinage found necessary, from time to time, to put into circulă- tion, and the guarantee would only be a moral under- taking.

*

I would respectfully suggest to the Committee, in view of the adoption of the gold standard by the Straits, that the "dollar" might be given some other name, Bay

or "real" (reale), as the coin is called ringgit by the Malays and other natives, the word “dollar " being used only by Europeans or by a native in speaking to a European in the language of the latter, or when two natives refer to that coin in the English language. If neither the Malay name (ringgit) nor "real" (which I think was taken from the Portuguese) is liked, the English word "royal" might be adopted. It would Bound well, and the re-christening of the dollar under auch auspicious circumstances would not be inappro-

In my humble opinion, which I offer for what it is worth, the solution of this great and important problem --which solution, it is generally recognised, is an urgent necessity-could be best arrived at by a sort of coup d'état on the part of the Straits Government, authorised or countenanced by the Home Government. The very first thing the Colonial Government should do is to decide what should be the sterling value of the dollar, and then to proceed more or less in the following

manner:

1. The Straits Government should forthwith prepare one dollar and half dollar Treasury notes equal in quan- tity to, say, half the quantity of dollar pieces in circu- lation.

2. The Straits Government, on its own behalf and on behalf of the Governments of the adjoining States, should proclaim that within three (3) months (or longer) a gold standard of currency, with certain silver and paper tokens of the sterling coinage, will be adopted, when such tokens, materially backed by gold, will be the only legal tender within the territories of the Colony and the said States, and that in view of the introduction of such gold standard currency, all silver coins being legal tender in the Straits and States must be surrendered to the Associated Governments, who will give in exchange (as a temporary substitute) paper money equivalent to the face values of the silver coins so surrendered.

3. The Colonial Government should also declare that no coin would be received by it or by any of the Ass0- ciated Governments after the expiration of the three months' (or more) notice, and that thereafter all un- Furrendered legal tender silver coins will cease to be recognised in the Straits and States as legal tender, provision being, however, made that the said coins should continue to be surrenderable for an extra thirty plays at a reduction of, say, 10 per cent.

II.

priate. And if the Committee should fix the sterling value of the "new" dollar at 2s., the money-table of the Straits would read thus:-

100 cents-1 royal.

10 royals - 1 sovereign,

The Bubstitution of the name "royal" for dollar would not, I think, be objected to by Hong-Kong, which colony, I understand, is going to be asked to join the Straits in the use of a common coinage. There is, of course, no actual necessity or reason to change the name of the dollar, only there are 80 many other "dollars," and the “gold" dollar of the Straits, when it comes, will have nothing in common with them, savə perhaps its size.

If at all possible, I think the sterling value of the Straits dollar should not be fixed at a figure propor- tiunately less advantageous than the Indian rupee, which originally was only half the value of the dollar at par.

In conclusion, I might mention this somewhat signi. ficant fact that among the natives of all nationalities, in Singapore and Johore at least, silver seems to have almost ceased to be regarded as a metal fit for personal urnaments. This, if I remember rightly, began soon. after the dollar dropped to 3a. 6d., some fifteen years ago, since which time the dollar has been more or less regarded as a token. I remember the dollar when it was 48. 24. or 4s, and when the Mexican dollar was used as a weight in a pair of scales for the purpose of ascertaining the quantity of metal in any silver orna- ment, in order to arrive at a rough estimate of its value, which was done by adding afterwards the cost of workmanship.

Johore Advisory Board Office, Norfolk House,

7, Laurence Pountney Hill, E.C. December 2nd, 1902.

A. R.

P.S.-With reference to Chinese labour, the news- papers say that the Chinese have already discovered"s country which is prepared to welcome their emigrants, and that country is Mexico. So we see that there is already a new field where they will be welcomed, and we know that Africa has not yet been properly exploited for the superfluous population of the Chinese Empire.

A. R.

4. The tendering back of such silver coins should take place at the Government offices in the principal towns of the Colony and the Associated States, where the Straits Treasury notes of approximately adequate amounts shall have been sent from the Colonial Treasury to be given in exchange for the recalled silver coins. These coins from the different Treasuries should be sent to the Government Treasuries at. Singapore and Penang (or Singapore only) with as little delay as possible

5. The surrendered coins (supplemented by bullion purchased by the Colonial Government) should, as soon as a sufficient quantity is collected, be converted-ro minted-by the Straita Government into one dollar (or "royal," as I have suggested the new coin should be called) "token" pieces and half dollar pieces, and such other smaller pieces 46 may be considered

necessary.

6. This new dollar, or "royal," being merely a silver token coin on the gold basin, should be made, say, a certain percentage less in size and weight (but not less in fineness) than the demonetised British or Mexican dollar, but should contain such a larger pro portion of metal as shall place it relatively on a higher level than the rupee as regards the fixed sterling value of that Indian coin; that is to say, if the value of the new dollar should be fired at 28., the proportion of silver in it over and above the rupee should be just eightpence "tokens'" worth more.

7. The Straits Government should consult the Government of India on this subject. The "co ordination" of the rupee and the new dollar ought to prove of mutual advantage to India and the Straits.

8. Without any date to guide one it is difficult to say how much net profit the Straits Government would make by converting the present legal tender dollar into

COMMITTEE ON STRAITS SETTLEMENTS CURRENCY.

the suggested new token dollar. Whatever the amount of pront may be, it should serve as a foundation or nucleus of a gold reserve which ought to be simul. taneously started to back the silver coins in circula- tion; and as there must always be a certain amount of protit on every fresh issue of the new coins, the growth of the gold reserve due to this element alone would be a steady if not a rapid one. Independently of this, the Government should devote a certain portion of its surplus revenue to the purchasing of gold to angment the reserve.

9. In order that the weight and responsibility of the task of increasing the gold reserve should not fall on the shoulders of the Straits Government alone, the pur- chasing of gold should also be made by the Govern- ments of the Associated States, either independently or through the medium of the Colonial Treasury, and the Treasuries of those States should never, if at all possible, be without a certain amount of gold coins.

10. For the same reasons the banks in the Straits and States of all descriptions (especially those having the privilege of issuing notes) should also be required to keep a certain amount of gold coins in "stock," either on the bank premises or deposited in the Govern- inent Treasuries.

11. The Straits Government should proclaim the new dollar, like the supplanted coin, legal tender to any amount, and should also enact that for, say, two years or longer, the new coin or its equivalent paper money shall not be redeemable in gold cash at the Colonial Treasury or at any Treasury of the Associated States, except at a reduction of, say, 1 per cent.; and that, as a set-off against this, during the inception period, any legal tender gold coins (say the sovereigns and half sovereigns and Bank of England notes) could be cashed for silver coins at the Treasury at a profit to the owner of, say, per cent. This arrangement should also apply to the Treasuries of the Associated States and the banks, which are required to have gold reserve as suggested in paragraphs 9 and 10. No profit should, however, be given to any person paying gold coins in settlement of any revenue account. The object of offering the premium of per cent. on incoming gold coins is to prevent the hoarding of such gold coins by the Chinese and other alien nativee who would take them back to their own countries.

12. During the reserve-collecting years the Government should convert all its spare silver into

9th December, 1902.

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gold, and acquire as much gold, either in specie (sovereigns) or bar, as it may be able to do. It might perhaps be expedient for the Colonial Government to borrow a certain amount of gold money at home-s thing which it could easily do with the splendid credit it has in this country, to say nothing of the moral support of the Home Government which it enjoys in this direction.

13. No currency law introduced in the Colony or in any of the adjoining States should make it obligatory on the Government to pay their servants, local contractors, etc., in gold.

14. Any Ordinance passed relating to the introduction of the gold standard of currency should contain a pro- vision to the effect that no verbal or written agreement or contract made between two parties in the Straits and States concerning any payment of money by the one party to the other should be so worded as to make it compulsory or necessary that such payment should be made in gold coins. A provision of this sort would ward off any undue strain on gold without injuring the interests of the parties concerned.

15. Such Ordinance should, however, provide that the Colonial Treasury should exchange dollars, both paper and silver, for gold at the full rate, when re- quired, within the above-mentioned period of years, for direct remittance to any gold standard country. This arrangement would, I think, be in the interest of the Straits gold standard currency.

16. During the "calling-in" period of three months (or longer) the present dollar may be dealt with by the general public in exactly the same way that it is now; that is to say, the Government shall not interfere with its rise or fall in exchange any more than it has the power to do at the present moment. I do not think that this would be unfair to the general public, nor would it disturb to any material extent any balance of business as between the producer and the consumer, or the creditor and the debtor, because everyone would know that at the end of so many months the dollar current in the Straits and the adjoining States, or its equivalent, would be given a fixed sterling value; and, therefore, the banker, the merchant, the trader, and every man of business, would more or less know how to control or guide his actions in view of an event which would be sure to take place.

ABDUL RAHMAN,

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APPENDIX, No. 11.