HONG KONG CURRENCY SITUATION.
1. The nature of the Currency.
41
X
le. dillen
Curency. Subsidian
The legal tender currency of Hong Kong is the
silver dollar (including Mexican and British dollars) Vide
Order -in-Council of 1895.
X
The actual customary tender currency is the
banknote in which, by a Convention which has grown up
roins of the HK in the last generation, all debts are expected to be Gat are "Customary"
settled. This arrangement has no legal sanction but has
been, with rare exceptions, observed as if it had.
ing
X Usually I think
clear.
i.e.,
The practical position of the silver dollar is not
Apparently it has occupied an uneasy position as
a token coin with no fixed limit of legal tender.
it has been accepted generally in shops etc. (except in
some Chinese stores when the "premium" on notes was at
its highest) but the banks (until very recently) would
not accept it at its face value in large quantities or
use it for inter-bank settlements (Nor, apparently, did
the Government accept its own coins!) Insofar as coin
had to be exchanged for notes, the loss seems to have
been borne by the shopkeepers and money changers.
largely, I imagine, the silver dollar has been immobilised
while the premium has been high.
But
For international purposes Hong Kong Currency
means bank-notes of the three banks authorised to issue
х
notes in Hong Kong. Rates of exchange in Hong Kong are
the rates at which their notes can be bought.
far rati is the vali at whic4. bank cosity can the bought. Few cwple, bray as change on M. H. with the intention actually ofneemiving motor,
Their
value, ostensibly fixed by the silver dollar on which they
are nominally based is in fact a purely currency value.
By
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