358
A GOLD CURRENCY FOR SINGA- PORE AND HONGKONG.
The Committee of the Singapore Chamber of Commerce appointed to consider the currency question have arrived at a wise decision in recommending the adoption of the gold standard and the degradation of the dollar to the position of a token coin. Silver has ceased to be a stable measure of value or reliable currency medium, and trade conducted with that metal as a basis | necessarily partakes largely of the character of gambling. Its unsuitability is demon- strated by the fact that in silver using countries the foreign trade has to be con- ducted virtually on agold basis, contracts being made, not for so many dollars clean, but for so many dollars at such and such a rate of exchange. It would simplify matters is the amounts were stated plainly in the first instance at so many pounds sterling. The adoption of a common currency unit for the whole empire would greatly facilitate trade and it will probably not be long now before that desirable consummation is brought about. India, Ceylon, and the Straits will fall into line with Great Britain and the Australian colonies, and though there is perhaps not much liklihood of Canada abandoning the dollar unit for the severeign still the dollar is a gold one and always good for a fraction over four shillings and a penny. Hongkong may for a time elect to hang on to the skirts of China in the matter of its currency, instead of marching boldly with the British empire, under the mistaken impression that it is furthering its Own commercial in- terests thereby, but silver is steadily sink ing under our feet and we will soon have no choice but to abandon it. The sooner the plunge is made the less it will cost. Dollars do not seem any easier to come by than they used to be, and when they are with difficulty obtained they melt away in value with the course of exchange. It would be well to make the conversion before they melt further.
There can be little doubt, we think, that the Straits community will adopt the recom- mendations of the Chamber of Commerce
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THE HONGKONG WEEKLY PRESS AND
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had
[November 10, 1897.
the ground lost since 1893-94 when the import reached a value of Rr. 5,133,290, considerably more than double that of 1896-97.
Meantime the exports to China barely maintain their former value, the amount in 1896-97 being Rs. 136,819,250 as compared with Rs. 137,781,030 in 1895-96, and Rs. 125,487,250 in 1894-95. The principal items of export are opium, cotton, and cotton yarns, and the following table for the past five years will show the fluctuations in each :-
Banks are going back on it and decline to | plainable. It is undoubtedly due to the settle exchange forward except at very stiff enormous increase in the import of sugar rates--or perhaps it would be more correct from Mauritius and the competition of the bounty-fed beet sugar from the Contin- to call them flabby rates.
If Hongkong waits for China it is possi-ent of Europe. In 1896-97 the import from ble that the conversion of the currency may auMritius had increased to 1,666,845 cwt., as compared with 1,078,558 in 1892-93, while have to be effected at one and sixpence or even a shilling to the dollar, and whatever the import of beet sugar from Germany the exact rate may be it is very certain that stands at 758,806 cwts., compared with it will be much beloy the rate at which the 225,788 in 1892-93, and the import from conversion could be effected to-day. When China declined from 349,096 cwts. in Japan announced her decision to adopt 1892-93 to 139,310 cwts, in 1896-97. The the gold standard it was said that the Mauritian sugar can still hold its own in change would not have much effect on competition with the bounty-fed beet sugars, the value of silver, that Japan had not but the China product is evidently in less been absorbing much silver anyway, favour, and is probably less pushed. Yet and that what little effect the change there ought to be no difficulty in securing a fair share of the demand for this article in might otherwise have exercised had been
India and it is to be hoped that the fall fully discounted during the progress of the discussion. This was the view put forward in exchange will enable it to regain some by sanguine friends of the white metal, and of for a time it seemed to prevail, but as soon as the operation came near enough to be correctly focussed the rate of exchange fell rapidly. Other explanations had then to be found for this singular conduct on the part of silver, and it was said to be due to But what large sales by timid holders.
Simply the made the holders timid? realisation of the fact that another prop been removed, that the metal was losing its value and that the best thing to be done with holdings was to sell them for what they would fetch. When props are many one or two may be removed here and there without greatly endangering the superstruc- ture, but when only a few remain the 1892-93-73,175,780 1,268,800 62,905,610 97,130 44,499,050 removal of each additional one, even though | 1893-94-59,771,950
681,130 51,394,640 in itself a small one, will have an increasingly 189495-68,190,760 weakening effect. The Straits have per- 1895-96-63,538,180 1,496,920 63,360,620 haps not been a very important market for 1896-97-58,800,450 3,938,420 67,624,720 silver as compared with some others, but It will be seen that though the value of the under existing circumstances the colony's opium trade has been fairly maintained, it abandonment of the white metal is calculated is slowly on the decline, and will probably to have a depressing effect on the course of exhibit a greater falling off next year, owing exchange and may possibly cause as serious
to the fresh drop in exchange this year and a drop as did Japan's conversion scheme.
the increase of the production of Yunnan and Szechuen opium. The first place in the exports to China, so long held by opium, has now being taken by cotton yarns, but whe- ther this export will be long maintained in that position after the starting of the mills in China is problematical. The opium trade will continue to be a considerable one for many years, though it is sure to decrease gradually. This result is inevitable in view of the very much lighter taxation the native drug is called upon to bear in China, and the process of substitution would go on much inore rapidly but for the fact that the present race of smokers do not appreciate the flavour
Indiau product at almost any cost. of the Chinese opium and will smoke the
THE TRADE OF INDIA WITH CHINA AND JAPAN.
In the Review of the Trade of India for
1896-97 just published by the Statistical Bureau of the Government of India, some interesting particulars of the trade between that country and China and Japan are set
out.
The figures given are very instructive, and show, in a striking mauner, how much more rapidly the trade with the little island empire is developing. vast empire of China exchange
Not
Comruittee, that the local Government will readily fall in with the scheme, and that the home Government will accord its sauction. A currency that is not good enough to serve as a measure of the salaries of the public servants of a state is not good enough for the operations of trade and commerce. only have the traits, like Hongkong, had for some time past to pay compensation" to officials of English doni- cile, but they have now had to grant a special allowance to the public servants of local domicile on account of the increased cost of living, in other words, owing to the decreased purchasing power of silver. This is termed a temporary allowance, but if the currency were not converted there can be little doubt the allowance would become permanent and disappear only with a straightforward in- crease of salaries. In Hongkong a similar measure has not yet been adopted, partly on account of the difficulty of balancing the budget, and partly, perhaps, because the pinch has not yet been quite so acutely felt here as in the Straits, but on all hands com- plaints are heard amongst the native popu- lation of the dearness of commodities, wages are going up, and the Government like private employers will have to adapt itself to the altered conditions. The most satis- factory method of adaptation would be to pay in a coin that offered some probability of being worth as much next week as this week. As for the silver dollar, even the
That with the is practically stationary, if not declining, while that with Japan has increased more than threefold in six years. Turning first to the returns for China, we find that the value of the imports for the year under notice was Rs. 21,490 890 as compared with Rs. 28,058,580 in 1895-96, while that of the exports was Rs. 136,819,250 as compared with Rs. 187,781,030 in the preceding year. The principal articles. of import from China all show a tendency to decline, with the one exception, curiously enough, of tea, which has latterly increased. The following are the figures for the past five years :--
Raw Silk Silk Goods Tea Copper Sugar
Rs.
Rs.
Rs.
Rs.
Rs. 1892-93 7,550,250 8,290,120 3,843,230 1,290,620 4,755,220 1893-04 10,720,100 6,386,700 4,755,520 3,223,810 5,133,200 1894-35 8,990,650 5,178,160 3,282,500 1,367,610 2,951,100 1895-96 9,383,340 6,264,830 4,105,640 1,290,780 2861,000 1896-77 6,626,400 4,201,070 4,369,430 1,033,800 1,701,510 It is difficult to explain why the trade in silk and silk piece goods has declined, though the latter may perhaps be partly accounted for by the expansion in the de- mand for Japanese silk goods, which are laid down at very low rates. The decline in the import of sugar is more readily ex-
COTTON
OPIUM
Rs.
COTTON Rs.
YARN
Rs.
The tables representing the growth of the Indian trade with Japan are much more satisfactory reading than those with China. The value of the imports has grown from Rs. 657,460 in 1891-92 to Rs. 5,473,560 in 1896-97, and that of the exports from Rs, 12,952,040 in 1891-92 to Rs. 40,942,140 in 1896-97. The report says:- The trade in "silk goods has been actively pushed in "Bombay and in Burmab, and the Japanese
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umbrellas, which have spread over the "Far East, have also obtained a place in the "Indian market. The imports of coal have
also greatly angmented.' In illustration of this it is shown that the value of silk goods, which in 1894-95 reached only Rs. 156,610, advanced to Rs 1,594,490 in 1896-97; umbrellas from Rs. 106,680 to Rs. 219,030, and that of coal from Rs. 122,100 to 836,510. In the exports an equally satisfactory in- crease in volume and values is also apparent, but it will be seen that the main article, which was formerly cotton yarn, is now raw
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