CO129-549-1 Remittance of funds between Hong Kong and London 12-2-1934 - 14-2-1935 — Page 47

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All our accounts are kept at the Hong Kong & Shanghai

Banking Corporation. This Government has 22 and the Command

Paymaster, I imagine, twice as many (including mess a/cs

and the like). The Bank give them 21% interest on their

current a/c and give us 1%. The Bank do a very appreciable

amount of work for Government for nothing and I am quite sure

that if Government and Treasury Chest Officer arranged their

remittances departmentally the relations between Bank and

Treasury Chest Officer, and Bank and Government would suffer

and for what? - a few thousand dollars a year on either side.

If the Bank cut the rate of interest on our current account

down to nothing in these difficult times, as they are entitled

to do, we should lose.

For these reasons I am not in favour of altering the

present position.

Paragraph 3 of the Treasury letter: Our remittances

to London vary and were as follows :-

(a) 1930

£150,000

1931

360,000

1932

400,000

1933

300,000

(b) 1934 (to date) 520,000

(a) lower than average as we had plenty of funds in London

and as exchange was low we did not remit till forced to. The

first remittance was made on 11th September of that year. (b) exceptional as some £200,000 will be required for redemp-

tion of sterling inscribed stock in October, 1934.

Paragraph 5 of the Treasury letter:

(i) depends on (ii).

(ii) we cannot be bound by monthly remittances. We must

retain a free hand.

(iii) As I have endeavoured to shew this is out of the