CO129-329 - Governor Nathan - 1905 [7-12] — Page 620

To

sure).

cost of a mint.

616

4.

According to Sir James Mackay's

Memorandum there were coined at the Bombay mint under the

agreement of the 14th. December, 1894, between the Secreta-

-ry of State and the two leading banks in China, British

dollars to the number of 156,166,427. According to a more

detailed account with which I have been furnished and of

which a copy is annexed, $153,16,208 had been coined up to

the 3rd. October, 1903, when import of the British dollars

into the Straits Settlements was stopped. The first ship-

-ment was made on the 13th. May, 1895, so that in the

course of 8 years about 154,000,000 dollars were coined.

This gives an average of about 18 millions a year. But in

the first, for years practically the entire amount and after-

-wards a very large proportion of this went to the Straits

Settlements. I have not been able to obtain the proportion

that came to Hongkong for local use and distribution in

China during the whole period but in the first five years

only 17 millions came here or an average of about 34

millions a year. Since the decision of the Straits Govern-

-ment to adopt a Gold Standard and to coin a silver dollar

for themselves the supply of British dollars to China has

been