CO129-316 - Governor Sir Blake - 1903 [1-4] — Page 590

42.

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Sir,

Hong Kong, 23rd March 1903.

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576

In response to the request of His Excellency the Governor

I have pleasure in briefly stating my views upon the question

of establishing the currency of the Colony, upon a Gold basis.

It will be admitted by all that the prosperity of Hongkong

is dependent, not upon the comparatively unimportant volume of

business within itself, but upon a continuance of what I may term

its outside trade connections, more especially those with China,

and that being so the question to be considered is- Will a

change in the financial system of the Colony without a similar

arrangement in China be beneficial to such trade or otherwise?

I cannot imagine any grounds upon which to base the expectation

that this "outside trade" would be in the slightest degree

facilitated by the introduction of a Gold Standard. It then

remains to consider whether it would be injuriously affected.

My own belief is that it would be, but I recognize that upon

this point there is room for much argument which would be un-

likely I think to convince either one side or the other, while

to practically test it would obviously be an extremely danger-

ous experiment.

Holding these views I should advocate noninterference with

the existing currency.

I am,

Sir,

Your obedient servant,

vicus

Sir John Keane, Bart.

Private Secretary to

His Excellency Sir Henry A. Blake, K.C.M.G.

&c. &c. &c.