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the markets and shops, the sovereign, in spite of the Royal proclamation, is not current; and among the Chinese market-people it will not be received at all. If forced upon English shopkeepers or merchants, an enhancement of the price of the goods would be made equal to the difference between the extreme range of the exchanges; but, practically, this is rarely or never done: all payments are made in dollars and cash, and gold coins are disposed of to money-brokers at the market-rate, by whom they are re-sold, at rates scarcely ever exceeding 4 dollars 40 cents, for payment of the Government services above specified.
With the view of pointing out how completely sovereigns, not current for commercial purposes, are applied to Government services, I inclose two statements of payments into the Commissariat Treasury Chest in the past year, from the Post Office and the Military Storekeeper's Department. From the former Department the payments are all but exclusively made in gold; and from the latter there is also a large proportion of these coins received. The only other recent large payment of gold into the Chest was 1,867, from the Superintendency of Trade, in December 1856, for superannuation fund and income tax.
I do not know whether any alteration or modification could be made in the Royal Proclamation to adapt it to the actual monetary condition of the Colony; but, if practicable, such a modification would be very desirable, as the proclamation is completely inoperative except against the Govern-
ment.
It also gives rise to endless disputes and vexatious complications, and sometimes affords shelter, under the letter of the law, to transactions of a very questionable nature which it is difficult to trace
I have, &c.
and expose.
(Signed)
W. TYRONE POWER.
P
5
Inclosure 3 in No. 3.
STATEMENT of Sums paid from the Commissariat Treasury Chest on Warrants of his Excellency the Governor, between June 1, 1857, and March, 1858.
Date.
Sterling.
Dollars.
Total.
£
9. d.
June 18, 1857
0 2
9
* 5,715 0
C.
£ d. 3 1,190 15
July 17,
150
0 0
"1
13,680 0
3,000 0 0
14,400 0 3,000
9,600 0 2,000 0 0
14,400 0
0 0
0
Aug. 3,
Sept. 29,
Oct. 10,
Oct. 14,
Oct. 29,
"
23
""
13
3,000 0
28,800 0 6,000 0 0
24,000 0 5,000 0 0
Sir,
Inclosure 1 in No. 3.
Mr. Caine to Deputy Commissary-General Power.
Superintendency of Trade, Hong Kong, March 16, 1858.
I HAVE received from Mr. Colonial Treasurer Forth, a statement which I have laid before his Excellency Her Majesty's Plenipotentiary, &c., to the effect that 10007. has been paid by the Commissariat in sovereigns (part of 6,000) on account of the Diplomatic and Consular services in China.
Sir John Bowring directs me to advise you that sovereigns are not current in any of the Consu- lates in China, and that to send them to the ports will entail either upon Her Majesty's servants or the public a heavy loss; that the remittal of sovereigns to the ports has been the source of much dissatisfaction and unpleasant correspondence, and he therefore hopes you will consent to replace these sovereigns with the dollars current in China.
I have, &c.
Nov. 13,
7,691 88
1,602 9
Jan. 28, 1858
Mar. 10,
11
Totals
1,000 0 0
1,150 2 9
28,800 0 6,000 0 0
24,000 0 6,000 0 0
171,086 88 36,793 + 9
Commissariat, China, Hong Kong, March 17, 1858.
(Sigued) W. TYRONE POWER, Deputy Commissary-General.
(Signed)
G. W. CAINE.
Sir,
Inclosure 2 in No. 3.
Deputy Commissary-General Power to Mr. Caine.
Commissariat, China, Hong Kong, March 17, 1858. I HAVE the honour to acknowledge the receipt of your letter dated 16th instant, stating that in the amount received on a warrant of his Excellency Sir J. Bowring of 60007 by the Colonial Treasurer, 1,000, was paid from the Commissariat Treasury Chest in sovereigns, and that you are directed by his Excellency Sir J. Bowring to advise me that to remit these sovereigns to the ports will entail a heavy loss either upon the public or on Her Majesty's servants, and to request that the sovereigns may be exchanged for the dollars current in China.
I have the honour to state, for the information of his Excellency the Governor, that the sovereigns in the Commissariat Chest are paid in from local sources, by far the larger amount from the Post-office, the deposits of which Department are made exclusively in sovereigns. No gold is imported or raised on the spot for the troops it would therefore be hard on the soldier to make him bear the loss on money paid into the Treasury Chest by services entirely uncon- nected with the army; harder, in point of fact, on him, than on any one, as the market-people with whom his pay is chiefly spent, object to receive the sovereign even at what may be termed its current rate, viz., 4 dollars 20 cents to 4 dollars 40 cents. The legal rate, as compared with the dollar at 4s. 2d., being 4 dollars 80 cents.
The only alternative is to keep the sovereigns in the same circle as far as possible, by repaying them to those services from which they have been obtained, That these repayments have not been excessive, the accompanying statement will show. The amount paid in sovereigns on warrants of his Excellency Sir J. Bowring from the period that I took charge of the Department on 1st June, 1857, till the present time, including the payment objected to, being only 1,150Z. 2s. 9d. in 171,086 dollars 88 cents., or about 3 per cent..
As, however, Sir J. Bowring states that a heavy loss to the public or to Her Majesty's servants. and much inconvenience, will be caused by the remittance of these sovereigns to the ports, I am prepared to exchange the sovereigns in compliance with his Excelleney's wish, in case, after taking into consideration the above statement, he is still of opinion that the sovereigns should be exchanged.
It is worthy of consideration, also, that the sovereigns so exchanged will have to be repaid subsc- quently to other of Her Majesty's servants, who, in like manner, will have to lose the differenc- between the value of the sovereign and the dollar.
I have, &c.
(Signed) W. TYRONE POWER.
Sir,
Inclosure 4 in No. 3.
Mr. Caine to Deputy Commissary-General Power.
Superintendency of Trade, Hong Kong, March 18, 1858. I HAVE laid your despatch, dated yesterday, on the subject of the issue of sovereigns for the Diplomatic and Consular service, before Her Majesty's Plenipotentiary and Chief Superintendent of Trade, and his Excellency desires me to thank you for the kind consideration you have given to the subject, and your willingness to redress an obvions grievance.
It appears from your report that these sovereigns are not received by you directly from the Treasury on account of Parliamentary grants, but are paid in by the Post-Office as local income accruing from that Department.
As the Post-Office is in direct dependence upon Her Majesty's Treasury, his Excellency is of opinion that the special character of its receipts should not be allowed to prejudice the public service generally, and he therefore willingly accepts your offer to replace the sovereigns with such dollars as form the usual currency of China.
The existing inconvenience will, as Sir J. Bowring hopes, be only temporary, as he is advised of the intention of Her Majesty's Government to make the Post-Office here a Colonial, and not an Imperial, Department; and when this is cffected, his Excellency will endeavour to accommodate the Post-Office receipts to the general currency of the Colony.
I have, &c. (Signed) G. W. CAINE.
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