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pacification of the province of Yen-Thé, where the above guerilla warfare took place. The civil authority in this region was superseded by a military administration. The native chiefs of the neighbouring provinces were warned to exercise a careful control over malefactors in their jurisdiction; the search for Ti-ts'an was to be carried on unremittingly, and new roads and police posts were to be established in the wild forest district to prevent a recrudescence of trouble. As the "Courrier d'Haiphong “ tersely summed it up, the situation has been ended by the precautions which should have been taken in the beginning."
[This Document is the Property of His Britannic Majesty's Government.]
AFFAIRS OF CHINA.
CONFIDENTIAL.
[July 4.]
SECTION 2.
0
[23853]
(No. 188.) Sir,
No. 1.
Mr. Max Müller to Sir Edword Grey.-(Received July 4.)
Peking. June 3, 1910. WITH reference to my telegram No. 104 of the 28th ultimo, I have the honour to transmit a translation of the Imperial decree establishing the silver dollar as the unit of currency throughout the Chinese Empire, together with a translation of the regulations in regard to the projected reform of the currency issued by the Board of Finance and sanctioned by the decree. It will be seen that the unit of currency is to be a dollar of 7 mace and 2 candareens weight, equal to 416 grains troy-the present Mexican dollar-with subsidiary coins in silver of 50 cents, 25 cents, and 10 cents; in nickel of 5 cents and of 2 cents, 1 cent, 5 cash and 1 cash, the value of the cents and cash to be decimal proportions of the dollar, and permanently fixed. The fineness of the dollar is to be 9 of pure silver, of the 50-cent. and 25-cent. pieces '8, and of the 10-cent. pieces *65. The weight and fineness of the nickel and copper coinage is to be decided on later. These new coins are to be minted under the supervision of the Ministry of Finance, which will be charged with the duty of seeing that they conform with the standard in weight, purity, and design. The new coins will be put into circulation as soon as a sufficient supply is available, and the Ta Ching Government bank is to be responsible for effecting the change from the old monetary systems to the new currency. The new dollar will be legal tender everywhere to an unlimited amount, but not so the subsidiary coinage, except when offered at the Government bank or one of its branches for exchange. Meanwhile, existing coins will be exchanged at their market value, and will gradually be withdrawn from circulation, until a certain date to be fixed later, when it is hoped that a sufficient number of the new coins will be in circulation to meet the payment of all taxes and duties and the requirements of trade, and the old coins will then cease to be legal tender, and will be received only at their value as bullion.
Chambers of commerce are to be asked "to give lectures explaining the gist of these regulations, that all persons may know that this reform of the coinage system is designed for the benefit of the merchant and the general public, and by abolishing the irregularities that have prevailed in the weight and values of the various coins, to take the first steps towards the reform of the finances of the country."
The regulations contain strict and detailed provisions as to the limit of tolerance between the actual and legal weight and between the actual and legal degree of fineness of the new coins; their deterioration through use and wear; the right to refuse coins wilfully damaged; the limitation of the amount of the subsidiary coins to be minted; the rates of exchange between the old and the new currency, and the assaying and control of the coins issued.
The minting of all coins now in circulation was to cease from the date of the publication of the regulations, and I understand that simultaneously all the provincial mints now existing are abolished, and that the minting of the new coinage will be undertaken by the general mint at Tien-tsin, certain existing mints such as those at Hankow, Chengtu, Mukden, &c., being made branches of the general mint to assist in the issue of the new currency.
The currency decree and the regulations would certainly appear to indicate a serious determination on the part of the Chinese Government to deal in a practical manner with the reorganisation of their financial system, the necessity for which has so repeatedly been urged on them both in the interests of foreign commerce and of the stability of Chinese credit, and it is to be hoped that steps will be taken without The vested interests undue delay to put the proposed measures into practical effect.
of innumerable officials and merchants, who profit by the existing chaos in the monetary system, are opposed to the reform, but the Central Government certainly possess the power, if they have the will, to put these measures into practice, just as they had the power to enforce the opium suppression regulations which also meant ruin to many vested and far more legitimate interests.
The Imperial decree of the 5th October, 1908, which laid down that China should
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