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PUBLIC RECORD OFFICE

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C.O. 882

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PUBLIC RECORD OFFICE, LONDON

ALLY WITHOUT PERMISSION OF THE |BE REPRODUCED PHOTOGRAPHIC- COPYRIGHT PHOTOGRAPH——NOT TO

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Or

If you decide to keep up your silver to a certain point, in spite of an influx of gold, how will you do it? Will you send gold to London to pay for silver? will you buy silver for delivery in Singapore and pay sovereigns to the vendor there? Or will you buy bills in Singapore on the place where the vendor desires payment? In any of those cases, it seems to me that a certain portion, at any rate, of your gold will be less valuable to you in Singapore than in London.

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No. 133.

Yours, &o.,

L. ABRAHAMS.

COLONIAL OFFICE to THE CHARTERED BANK OF INDIA, AUSTRALIA, AND CHINA.

[Copy to Treasury, 10th July, 1906. Z.F]

SIR,

Downing Street, 13th June, 1906. I AM directed by the Earl of Elgin to acknowledge the receipt of letter

your of the 7th instant, and to inform you that it is not proposed at present to make arrangements for the issue of currency notes of the Straits Settlements against gold other than those explained in the letter from this office of the 3rd of February last.t

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No. 134.

I am,

&c.,

C. P. LUCAS.

THE GOVERNOR to THE SECRETARY OF STATE. (Received 11.43 a.m., 15th June, 1906.)

TELEGRAM.

(Paraphrase.)

[Copy to Treasury, 10th July, 1906. L.F.]

[Answered by No. 137.]

Referring to Taylor's confidential despatch of May 10th, run on silver reserve is, in my opinion, improbable. In any case the remedy is to declare gold legal

tender.

The Commissioners now hold £675,000 in gold, and further shipments of £100,000 are advised.

It is not necessary for the bullion reserve here to exceed one-third of the amount of notes issued against gold for the present; one-third should be held in London on current account with the Bank of England, and a third invested.

Most of the gold here obtained from Australia, and the amount is now exces- sive, but I do not propose to remit specie but to avoid need for importing more, by informing the banks that, as they require more, Currency Commissioners will give it for remittance to London for investment, and the Commissioners would continue to do this till amount remitted is equal to the amount held here pending legislation to enable us to keep part of gold reserve in England on account with the Bank of England.

To relieve us of this excessive amount of gold I hope that Order in Council will be passed soon making it legal tender.-ANDERSON.

• No. 130.

† No. 112.

* No. 129.

No. 135.

THE ACTING GOVERNOR to THE SECRETARY OF STATE.

(No. 185.) MY LORD,

(Received 16th June, 1906.)

[Copy to Treasury, 6th July, 1906. L.F.] [Answered by No. 136.]

Government House, Singapore, 24th May, 1906. I HAVE the honour to report to Your Lordship that I am advised that the Orders in Council passed under "The Foreign Coin Prohibition Ordinance, 1891," are no longer valid, as this Ordinance has been repealed by the Coin Import and Export Ordinance, 1903, which contains no saving clause for preserving the validity of the Orders made under the repealed Ordinance. It is considered advisable, therefore, to issue a fresh series of Orders for regulating the importation, exporta- tion, and circulation of foreign coin. Advantage might be taken of this opportunity to consolidate, for convenience of reference, all the various Orders that have been passed under the repealed and existing Ordinances, and it is proposed to make certain additions to the schedule of the coins dealt with by these Orders. These will require Your Lordship's sanction under Section 3 (1) and (2) of the Coin Import and Export Ordinance, 1903.

2. I submit, for your Lordship's consideration, three draft Orders which com- prise all that was contained in the old Orders. The additions proposed are in red ink* on the margin.

3. In regard to the Order prohibiting the circulation of foreign coin, it will be seen on reference to Sub-section 3 of Section 3 of Ordinance XXIV. of 1903, that your Lordship's sanction is not required, but in view of Lord Knutsford's despatch, No. 106, of the 9th April, 1891,† it seems necessary to refer again to your Lordship the question as to the advisability of prohibiting the circulation in the Colony of the British North Borneo copper coin estimated to amount to not less than 25 per cent. of the total copper coin in circulation.

4. The effect of allowing these coins to circulate side by side with the Straits' copper coin is that our copper coin cannot be exchanged at par, and that all large collections of coins such as come into the possession of the Tramway Company

copper and rice dealers cannot be disposed of for dollars, except at a heavy discount.

5. It is not intended to bring in the penal provisions of Ordinance XXIV. of 1903 as regards the circulation of the British North Borneo coins until ample notice has been given throughout the Colony and the Federated Malay States, and sufficient time has elapsed to enable the holders of these coins to get rid of their holdings with the least possible hardship.

6. The Order prohibiting the importation of these coins has not been very effective, it being very difficult, owing to the absence of customs regulations, to prevent their importation even in large quantities.

Enclosure in No. 195.

I have, &c.,

W. T. TAYLOR.

DRAFT ORDERS by His Excellency the Officer Administering the Government in Council under "The Coin Import and Export Ordinance, 1903.”

I.

Whereas it is provided by Section 3, Sub-section 1 of The Coin Import and Export Ordinance, 1903," that subject to the approval of the Secretary of State it shall be lawful for the Governor in Council by Order to prohibit the importation into the Colony of such coins whether legal tender within the Colony or not as are in such Order specified:

And whereas it is expedient that the importation into the Colony of the coins specified in the Schedules hereto shall be prohibited:

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• Printed here in italios.

† 5489: not printed.

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