CO129-329 - Governor Nathan - 1905 [7-12] — Page 621

$

Enclosure 2.

shabaku budaya akan

617

been kept up from Singapore except for one importation by

the Hongkong and Shanghai Bank of $636,825 coined for a 2

per centum seigniorage at Bombay.

It is difficult to say with any

exactness what the requirements of the British dollar in

the future will be but an average of 4 millions a year

would seem to be a fairly safe minimum. One per centum

seigniorage on this will amount to $40,000 per annum and

this amount can be added to the present cost to the Hong-

-kong Government of the manufacture of subsidiary coins for

comparison with the interest on the capital expenditure for

and the working expenses of a Hongkong mint to see whether

such a mint could pay its way.

5.

From the annexed table showing

the number and cost of subsidiary coins imported into

Hongkong between the years 1895 and 1904, it will be seen

that in the last ten years an average of 32,228,500 Fifty,

Twenty, Ten and Five Cent pieces and of 3,451,200 One Cent

coins have been imported each year. The mint charges of

8 shillings per 1,000 on the former number and of 4 shil-

-lings per 1,000 on the latter, work out at a total annual

average of £13,587 12. 0 or say $136,000 taking the

value