V-
HONGKONG & SHANGHAI BANK, LONDON.
all the unemployed money available to be sent to the Colony
temporarily.
I suppose it is hardly correct to say the actual
currency is at a discount, though that is what it amounts to.
84
It is open to a very considerable amount of doubt if a
Government Issue of Notes would really alter the situation.
If they
were prepared to exchange notes for dollars ad lib, it would probably
end in the Government being swamped with Silver currency, so long as
there was
a plethora of unemployed chopped mexican dollars in China and
as you know, that the trade is accustomed to work on practically
a fixed interest basis, I leave it to your own imagination what an
unsettling effect that would have. Such a situation might lead to a
tenptation to discrimate against the Chopped Mexican and I think all
are agreed that it would be a grave matter to introduce any complì-
cations between the currency of Hongkong and that of South China.
After all, in Europe internhangeable currencies are
regulated by discount and Government Bank rates, so the premium on
notes in Hongkong in the present condition of things is more or less
a similar protection, owing to the difficulty of exporting the
surplus coin for sale and conversion into gold. A brisk import
/trade
No comments yet.
Private notes are available after approval.