CO129-257 - Public Offices & Others - 1892 — Page 525

CO129 Colonial Office Hong Kong Records 理藩院香港檔案 All AI Reviewed

The holders of our Notes would not be satisfied to learn that we have securities deposited with the Crown Agents in London, which would ultimately be available for paying my Notes that might be outstanding in event of the Bank being wound up.

At present we are compelled to keep an ample reserve of silver currency in China and the Straits against our Note issue at both places therefore for all practical purposes the large sum of $3,352,960 (500,000 nearly) at present in the hands of the Crown Agents and the Government of Hongkong is literally dead money.

If our Bank Notes were a legal tender it would be otherwise, but as they are not a legal tender, they are payable in coin on demand. It ought to be borne in mind that even if the securities now with the Crown Agents were in Hongkong the position would not be thereby improved, as it would be impossible to realise or raise money on securities in China during a time of pressure.

There is no Bank of England or resident Bank there to whom application could be made for assistance, we should have to depend entirely upon the hard cash in our own Treasuries which is the only reserve to be relied upon under the peculiar circumstances of the place.

We are equally anxious with your Lordships to make our Note issue quite safe, but we submit that the present lock-up of nearly £500,000 is both dangerous and expensive to us, - whether that in the interests of the Note holders as well as of the Bank.

Page 520

(I removed the initial garbled text as it appears to be OCR errors not related to the main text, and formatted the rest into HTML paragraphs. I corrected minor spelling errors like "practible" to "practical", "sua" to "sum", and made some minor punctuation adjustments for clarity.)

Edit History

2026-05-26 20:51:01 · NVIDIA / meta/llama-4-maverick-17b-128e-instruct
Live
View comparison
AI Proofread
The holders of our Notes would not be satisfied to learn that we have securities deposited with the Crown Agents in London, which would ultimately be available for paying my Notes that might be outstanding in event of the Bank being wound up. At present we are compelled to keep an ample reserve of silver currency in China and the Straits against our Note issue at both places therefore for all practical purposes the large sum of $3,352,960 (500,000 nearly) at present in the hands of the Crown Agents and the Government of Hongkong is literally dead money. If our Bank Notes were a legal tender it would be otherwise, but as they are not a legal tender, they are payable in coin on demand. It ought to be borne in mind that even if the securities now with the Crown Agents were in Hongkong the position would not be thereby improved, as it would be impossible to realise or raise money on securities in China during a time of pressure. There is no Bank of England or resident Bank there to whom application could be made for assistance, we should have to depend entirely upon the hard cash in our own Treasuries which is the only reserve to be relied upon under the peculiar circumstances of the place. We are equally anxious with your Lordships to make our Note issue quite safe, but we submit that the present lock-up of nearly £500,000 is both dangerous and expensive to us, - whether that in the interests of the Note holders as well as of the Bank. Page 520 (I removed the initial garbled text as it appears to be OCR errors not related to the main text, and formatted the rest into HTML paragraphs. I corrected minor spelling errors like "practible" to "practical", "sua" to "sum", and made some minor punctuation adjustments for clarity.)
Baseline (Original)
eiz rraunda Loverpias, prodort:f to d i byandere 3 NX birodu of groentq je pri à zuro. mul de col110 bas!! *00 * 28 18l da dome were bull to outer aidsrevelar vrey ont w oxtroni aj au batrundani eed bas baznosnog al 478 56d pirmang tu sbon ve snot pubborne film entdeck 2 I Josh 25 LO STILE Sno aver of Aned odd of #rozMa 46 20 tungo sad nk cotch atk gakvog 203 nove naomi smua, quasi intod a43 10 X27 #guk etdi 520 The holders of our Notes would not be satisfied to learnthat we have securities deposited with the Crown Agents in London, which would ultimately be available for paying my Notes that aight be outstanding in event of the Bank being wound up. At present we are compelled to keep an aaple reserve of si ver currency in China and the Straits against our Kote issue at both places therefore for all practible purposes the large sua of $3,352,960 (500,000 nearly) at present in the hands of the Crown Agents and the Government of Hongkong is literally dead money. If our Bank Notes were a legal tender it would be otherwise, but as they are not a legal tender, they are payable in coin on de- mand. It ought to be borne in mind that even if the securities now with the Crown Agents were in Hongkong the position would not be thereby improved, as it would be impossible to realise or raise money on securities in China during a time of pressure. tiae foi There is no Bank of England or residency Bank there to whom ap- plication could be made for assistance, we should have to depend entirely upon the hard cash in our own Treasuries which is the only reserve to be relied upon under the peculier circumstances of the place. We are equally anxious with your Lordships to make our Note issue quite safe, but we submit that the present lock-up ! and fu of nearly £500,000 is both dangerous and expensive to us, -ther that in the interests of the Note holders as well as of the
2026-05-26 20:51:01 · Baseline
View content

eiz

rraunda Loverpias, prodort:f to d

i

byandere 3 NX

birodu of groentq je pri à zuro.

mul de col110 bas!! *00

* 28 18l da dome were bull to outer aidsrevelar vrey ont

w oxtroni aj au batrundani eed bas baznosnog al

478 56d pirmang tu sbon ve snot pubborne film entdeck

2 I

Josh 25 LO STILE Sno aver of Aned odd of #rozMa

46 20 tungo sad nk cotch atk gakvog 203 nove

naomi są smua, quasi intod a43 10 X27 #guk etdi

520

The holders of our Notes would not be satisfied to learnthat

we have securities deposited with the Crown Agents in London,

which would ultimately be available for paying my Notes that

aight be outstanding in event of the Bank being wound up.

At present we are compelled to keep an aaple reserve of si

ver currency in China and the Straits against our Kote issue at

both places therefore for all practible purposes the large sua of

$3,352,960 (500,000 nearly) at present in the hands of the Crown

Agents and the Government of Hongkong is literally dead money.

If our Bank Notes were a legal tender it would be otherwise, but

as they are not a legal tender, they are payable in coin on de-

mand. It ought to be borne in mind that even if the securities

now with the Crown Agents were in Hongkong the position would not

be thereby improved, as it would be impossible to realise or

raise money on securities in China during a time of pressure.

tiae foi

There is no Bank of England or residency Bank there to whom ap-

plication could be made for assistance, we should have to depend

entirely upon the hard cash in our own Treasuries which is the

only reserve to be relied upon under the peculier circumstances

of the place.

We are equally anxious with your Lordships to make

our Note issue quite safe, but we submit that the present lock-up

!

and fu

of nearly £500,000 is both dangerous and expensive to us, -ther that in the interests of the Note holders as well as of the

Comments

Approved members can add comments, bookmarks, and private notes.

No comments yet.

Private Research Note

Private notes are available after approval.