CO129-442 - Governor Sir May - 1917 [4-6] — Page 342

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Hongkong & Shanghai Banking Corporation.

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Hongkong, 3rd. April, 1917.

The Honourable

The Colonial Secretary,

Sir.

Hongkong.

I have the honour to acknowledge receipt of your letter No. 4111/1911 of 2nd. instant enquiring how far, in my opinion, the available supply of notes of the denomination of $1 meets the public demand.

In reply I beg to inform you that in my opinion the present limit of 834 laos is very much too small for the requirements of the Colony, and I think the limit for the issue of notes of the denomination referred to, which is at present $350,000, should be doubled.

At present we have $24,000 in hand which could be put in circulation if the limit was increased, but it is doubtful if we can do more than that until the end of the war, as, although we have a supply ready in London, the high rate of insurance makes it prohibitive to have them shipped at present, owing to these notes being fully completed in London and having to bear

the same charges as treasure.

I have ko..

(Ed.) N. J. Stabb,

Chief Manager.