CO129-364 - Public Offices & Others - 1909 — Page 93

TELEGRAPHIC ADDRESS. PISTAIL. All letters to be addressed to the BHARTERED BANK OF INDIA, AUSTRALIA & CHINA.

Cuppy

91

Chartered Bank of India, Australia & China,

$604

(1)

The

Sir,

Hatton Court, Threadneedle Street

London

15th November/9009

Under Secretary of State,

Colonial Office, S..

37433

IRECR Rre 16 NOV 09

Gou

We beg to acknowledge receipt of your letter No. 35645/

1909 dated 8th instant enclosing copy of a draft Ordinance to

provide for the issue in Hongkong of Government Paper Currency,

and enquiring whether we desire to add to the observations

contained in our letter of 13th September last.

We confirm what we wrote in our said letter and in

continuation and extension thereof we would draw attention to

the following points:-

The entire absence of any control by the Hongkong

Government over the Silver Currency in the Colony must sooner

or later involve the Government in serious difficulty because

of their obligation under the proposed Ordinance to issue notes

to any extent in exchange for current coin, viz: Mexican Dollars

& British Dollars. Under the present Currency Enactment,

Mexican Dollars, and British Dollars are legal tender to any

amount, and can be and are imported into Hongkong without

restriction. British Dollars can be minted by the public

to any extent. This might lead to an accumulation of silver

coinage by the Government to an extent which might readily

prove disastrous, The only remedy for this would be that

the Government assume control of the Silver Currency in the Colony by closing the Mints in India to the coinage of silver into Pritish Dollars on behalf of any one tendering the necessary silver, and also by preventing the free import of Mexican Dollars.

Such a procedure has not been considered,

so far as we are aware, and if

enacted we believe that it

would

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