CO129-523-13 Currency situation 16-6-1930 - 16-6-1930 — Page 26

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

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as explained below, the "note premium" while it influences the amount of the "exchange premium", is itself driven up by the same causes that drive up, the

exchange premium", since a rise in the "exchange

premium" is accompanied by a scarcity of notes. The

question of "note premium" has of course been complicated

by the fact that the question arises in connection with

two classes of transactions, ordinary public transactions and inter-Bank marginal, or clearing, transactions. Presumably the convention, though finally universal,

originally applied only to inter-bank transactions.

1

When the exchange premium got very high in October 1929, it was, as explained in the appendices

to the Committee's report, decided by unanimous consent

of all the Banks to abolish the note premium by

accepting silver dollars pari passu with notes for

payments in cash and incidentally withdrawing the one

dollar notes. At the same time a deposit of silver

que dollars was established in the vaults of the Bank de

l'Indo-Chine and used as the material for inter-bank

settlements by a system of book entries. As far as we

know this abolition of the "note premium" still holds

good.

There was of course one special feature

about the "note premium", which is that, as it arose out of convenience and not exchange considerations, it

could never become a negative quantity unless of course

the Banks failed to carry out their obligation to

redeem notes presented to them in silver dollars or

widespread

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