CO129-346 - Governor Sir Lugard - 1908 [1-3] — Page 134

5

!

OP Y.

Sir,

Chambers,

Supreme Court, Hongkong,

131

17th. December, 1907

C.J.

7887

IN 5 MAR 08]

I desire to draw Your Excellency's attention

to a new aspect of the exchange question as it affects the payment of salaries this month. I had hoped that it would have been unnecessary for me to do so, but owing to the very cavalier way in which the Colonial Treasurer has treated certain letters I have written to him on the subject, I am obliged to.

2.

Under the new arrangement sanctioned by the Secretary of State the salaries rate of exchange is to be 2/- to the dollar, but when the dollar falls below 2/- the current rate is to be adopted, and it is to be ascertained according to the method hitherto in use.

I beg in the first place to point out to

Your Excellency that the rate this month fell below 2/- on December 7th., that it has continued falling since, and that the probability is that it will remain below 2/- till at least the end of the month. The result will be that although, except for

>

6 days, the rate has been below 2/- and although remittances

at the end of the month will be made at this low rate,

the

benefit which it was the intention of the Secretary of State

to preserve to civil servants when the rate fell below 2/- will

not accrue. I shall refer to this question in due course, but

for the present I propose to confine myself to the question how

the former rules for ascertaining the rate should be applied in

the present case

which was not foreseen when the arrangement

was sanctioned.

-

3.

The rate of payment at the end of any given

month is determined by the average of rates prevailing between

Excellency

Sir Frederick Lugard, K.C.M.G.,

the

Governor of Hongkong.