CO129-390 - Acting Governor Claud Severn - 1912 [5-6] — Page 430

CO129 Colonial Office Hong Kong Records 理藩院香港檔案 All

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coin or receiving it in change to the extent of 84, namely, the amount short of the sum represented by the $5 note, or say 8 shillings, is obliged to carry in his pocket a quarter of a pound avoirdupois. It is not surprising therefore that the standard coin is used rather as a reserve against note issue than as a

medium of exchange.

11.

The population of the Colony in the years

1872 and 1911 was as follows:-

1872..

1911...

Non-Chinese Commmunity. Chinese. Total.

6,421) 19,051

115,564 121,985

444,664 463,715

12004 58

Прево 23697

12.

Inclusive of Army and Navy.

But there is a more serious aspect of this question. In paragraph 8 of his Confidential Despatch of 6th. March, 1908, Sir F. D. Lugard asked that the advice of the Treasury might be obtained as to the best method of prohibiting by legislation the circulation as currency in the Colony of all Bank Notes other than those already authorised, the desire for prohibition being especially directed against the $1 notes of the Banco Nacional Ultramarino and notes of the same denomination emanating from Canton. In their letter of 30th. June, 1908, which formed an enclosure to Lord Crewe's Confidential Despatch of 6th. July, 1908, the Treasury stated inter alia that "if the "legal currency of the Colony in notes and coin is sufficient "for the needs of the community, it should be a difficult matter "for the unauthorised notes to gain a permanent place in the "circulation". From inquiries recently made by the Police it appears that, notwithstanding a successful prosecution under section 3 of the Bank Notes (Issue) Ordinance 1895 (No. 2 of 1895), of the local Agents of the Banco Nacional Ultramarino in September, 1911, when the defendants were convicted and fined

8100

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