TNAG-0765-FCO40-969-Minting-of-coins-for-Hong-Kong-1978 — Page 189

CODE 18-77

SS 10/76

Mr Hull

Economists Dept.

G 71B/G

Mr White

FRD

G 60/G

CONFIDENTIAL

I am writing to

b

Mesons

advanced

HKK 135 / 11.5:51

25 JAN 1978 ༡、

OFFIC

*

Working as required

IDEX

appoor an amendment to the

3

i para 3

below. I have som sympathy with My Blyje, but for the

Ecomotion Dept I do not think Ministers would look kindly on being asked to

Order--Commial permitting The H.K. Govt to seek competitive tenders. I will let

know whe I receur you The Secretary for Monetary Affairs in Hong Kong has returned to the attack on this subject.

HONG KONG COINAGE

1.

a

rep

Row 17%,

2. The Royal Mint receives substantial annual foreign exchange earnings (I believe of the order of £2m.) from minting coins for Hong Kong. I can see no reason why we should not agree,

if Hong Kong were insistent, to amend the 1936 Order. In addition I believe Hong Kong has a very strong argument when saying that, in a free economy it would be very hard to answer criticism of enforced independence on the Royal Mint unless it could be shown that benefit accrued, which would not be available from other sources.

3. In the circumstances I should be grateful if, unless you see strong objections, the information requested in Paragraphs 3 and 5 of the attached letter could be obtained. I would also be grateful for FRD to raise again with the Treasury the point in Paragraph 4. It strikes me as completely inequitable that we insist that Hong Kong coins be minted in the UK but at the same time prohibit the sale of them here. At the very least I would hope that the Treasury could agree to the sale of a limited number of Hong Kong gold coins. I attach papers from 1975 when the subject was last raised.

I

12 January 1978

Enc.

CONFIDENTIAL

J Thompson

K 245

Hong Kong & General Department