CO129-331 - Public Offices - 1905 — Page 305

C.O.

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19 SEP 36 Extracts from a letter dated 30th May, 1905, from J.G. Peter, HongKong and Shanghai Bank, Hong-

Kong, to Mr. Hilller.

British dollars, as you know, are greatly in

favour in North China, while in Shanghai and the

Yangtse Valley the Chinese still demand payment in

old Mexican dollars. I may however remind you

that both British and Mexican dollars are legal ten-

der in this Colony, so naturally the cheaper coin

of the two is the one that will find its way to this

market.

Under the arrangement made in 1894, the Indian

Government undertook to coin British dollars at a

seigniorage charge of 1%, and we, jointly with the

Chartered Bank, agreed to take from them a minimum

coinage of 5,000,000 dollars annually; but in 1903

the Indian Government notified us that they wished

to terminate the agreement then in force, but that

they were willing to continue to coin British dol-

lars at a seigniorage charge of 2%, subject to their

own minting requirements taking precedence of Bri-

tish dollars.

At