378
**
HONGKONG'S SUBSIDIARY: COINAGE PROBLEM,
THE HONGKONG WEEKLY PRESS AND
of
[October 30, 1909.
The
insecurity and fear lest the silver dollar was isssued reiterating the commands of and the bank note, like the subsidi- the Throne that, in conformity with the ary. coins, should one fine day be suddenly wishes expressed by the late DOWAGER- (Daily Press, October 25th)
repudiated? Only ignorance, of course, EMPRESS, the Provincial Councils should promote the The debate on the Estimates which took could breed such a panic, but in the use their best efforts to
of the question, the welfare of the provinces they respec- place in the Legislative Council last week consideration was chiefly noteworthy on account of the ignorance the Chinese population tively represent. They were cautioned proposal brought forward by the Hon. Mr. in regard to currency matters is a matter against exceeding their rights and encroach- OSBORNE for dealing with the vexed problem to which some attention ought to be ing upon established law; they were bidden *of our depreciated subsidiary coinage, and paid. With regard to the bearing of the not to act impulsively, but with calm deliber- 80 without injury to any interests, and change on the Colony, HIS EXCELLENCY ation and a single eye to the promotion of
the best interests of the people. without friction, end a situation which is in- remarked that even if a new coinage were tolerable to trade." Mr. OSBORNE's remedy introduced and circulated at par there is resolutions passed by a Provincial Council is a new coinage redeemable at par. He con-
still the query as to whether it would wholly are subject to the approval of the Viceroy tended that the Hongkong Government has drive out the Chinese subsidiary coinage.or Governor, who are directed by the Edict no responsibility, moral or otherwise, for We do not imagine that it would; but that to enforce such resolutions of the Council the millions of Hongkong coins in China. is no reason why the Government of Hong- as may seem to them advisable, but they are "They were sold,” he said, as a commodity, kong should decline to provide a subsidiary enjoined to take care that the resolutions --just as a merchant sells his wares, and the currency and maintain it at its par value. are not ultra vires, and contrary to establish- Government, never having by promise-There would not be the same heavy drain ed laws and regulations. It is the earnest implied or otherwise, undertaken to redeem of the new currency into China-especially desire of the Throne that the Viceroys them, is no more under an obligation to do | if the coins had a deckled edge which made and Governors should do all in their occurred power to remove whatever grievances so than a merchant is under an obligation them easily distinguishable as to receive back merchandise which has fallen in the case of the present coinage; the people have, and they in value since he sold it.' H. E. the but unless there is prohibition of Chinese that in doing this they will be fulfill- GOVERNOR described this as a very debate-currency in the Colony-which we agreeing a patriotic duty and at the same
遥遥
16
new
are told
time be showing their loyalty to the Throne. H. I. H. the PRINCE REGENT has directed that a copy of this Decree shall be hung in every Council Chamber and that the com- mands it embodies shall be strictly obeyed. The spirit of this Decree is altogether admirable, and the inauguration of the Councils everywhere seems to have been done in a business-like manner and with a decorum which all friends of China will
maintained when Councils get into the very heart of the business they are, formed to transact. It will occasion no surprise if we learn in the course
able contention and observed that the objec, with the Hon. Mr. OSBORNE it would now be tion which has been raised to the proposal inadvisable to advocate--two standards of is that it is an immoral one; that it means currency would come more generally into repudiation. Mr. OSBORNE himself said that use than is the case at the present time. every honourable man would like to see
Where transactions are in subsidiary coins redemption at par applied as a remedy, but the Canton twenty-cent piece has prae- "however much we may yearn after virtuetically become the standard of value in this in the abstract, on this particular occasion Colony. There are some Chinese firms it becomes impossible when the cost is taken with this standard for all transactions. into account.' No doubt the Chinese For instance, in the largest Chinese retail who hold this coin in Kwantung would establishment an emporium which as-hope also like to have it redeemed at par, pires to be the WHITELEY'S of Hongkong
or most of the present holders, in all pro- prices are fixed in subsidiary coin, and if a bability, acquired it at its depreciated value. customer tenders a banknote in payment for The original holders have already suffered, his purchase he is allowed the discount rate and if the present holders suffer from the for the day, just as if he had changed his demonetisation of the coinage, and its note for subsidiary coin at a money reduction to bullion value, we must not changer's. While it would be too much overlook the fact that this action on the to expect that the coinage would part of the Hongkong Government would immediately drive out the Chinese coins, it at the same time help to rehabilitate the is obvious that the new coins would be far Kwangtung currency.
Therefore, while more generally used than are the present holders of Hongkong coin would suffer, coins, for it would be better worth the while of the population of Kwangtung as im
the shopkeeper, the ferry and tram compan- whole would stand to benefit, if any
ies and everybody else to insist upon them. large proportion of the forty million It would probably force all Chinese shop- dollars' worth of these coins which China keepers to have two prices for their wares- absorbed remains in circulation. The a price in Hongkong currency and a price in Hongkong Government made no pretence of Canton currency, as with the thousands of supplying China with a currency, and there Chinese who are brought into the Colony by is a great deal to be said for treating what the steamers daily it is inevitable that she took away as analogous to a com-
a lot of Chinese subsidiary coin will remain modity purchased. Moreover, inasmuch in circulation. As we have already suggested, as the excessive output of the Canton it may be that the demonetisation of the mint is responsible for the deprecia-present subsidiary coinage of the Colony tion of the Hongkong subsidiary coinage will result in Chinese coins rising to the Chinese circulating in China and within the Colony, par value-and if only it would be monstrous to expect the Govern authorities would then so regulate the output ment of this Colony to redeem the coinage of coins from their mints as to maintain at par. There are, however,
them at par value, it would be a blessing to the whole population of Kwangtung though it must be added that with the difference in value removed, it would be much more difficult in this Colony to drive Chinese subsidiary coin out of circulation.
many
one
complications in the problem, and hesitates to dogmatise. As, however, the Government has promised to give the proposal submitted by the Hon. Mr. OSBORNE the most careful consideration, and hopes for some expression of public opinion on the
IN CHINA.
subject, we may put forward for the CONSTITUTIONAL GOVERNMENT purposes of discussion the view that the adoption of Mr. OSBORNE's proposal would set up the danger of creating distrust and suspicion of the entire cur- rency of the Colony, and thus injuriously affect the trade of the Colony with Canton. Few Chinese on the mainland would be likely to have any proper appreciation of the rea sons for the repudiation of the Colony's sub- sidiary coin. Is it not conceivable that the implicit confidence which thousands of the population of Kwantung province now place in the Hongkong dollar and the Hongkong | bank note would give place to a sense of
(Daily Press, October 26th.) Provincial Parliaments or Deliberativə Councils, as they are variously called, are now established in all the provincial capitals of China. They were inaugurated on the first day of the ninth moon-that is to say, on October 14th-and so the machinery of Constitutional Government is now at work. The experiment will be watched with close attention throughout the world. When the elections were complete and the Councils were about to assemble an Imperial Edict
to
see
"
the
of the next few months of estrangements, if not of voilent antagonism, between the officials and the Councils of the Provinces, for many in many
by duties performed
officials of the must necessarily come under the scrutiny It will be the business of the Councils. of these Councils, we presume, to accept some responsibility for the accuracy of the provincial budgets, and in this connec tion it is evident the Councils have it in their power to render the State splendid service. There can be no regeneration of China" until the whole fiscal system is It is a prodigious radically changed. task, as anyone who has read the ex- haustive descriptions of it given by Pro- fessor PARKER and Mr. H. B. MORSE will readily understand, but it is one which, sooner or later, must be entered upon. We have no doubt the natural curiosity of the provincial assemblies to learn what becomes of all the revenue raised will not only prove a safeguard against administrative and finan- cial corruption, but lead eventually to the abandonment of what Mr. PARKER has called "the many anfratuosities, callosities and complications" in the accounts, so as to remove the chances of the silver raised to meet, the expenses of government, “halting piecemeal on the way to its nominal des- tination." The establishment of these Councils, therefore, marks an important epoch in the history of China, and the work they do will be watched with much attention and eager hopefulness.
It is reported that the Waiwupu has recently presented a memorial to the Throne recommend- ing Senior Secretary, Won Pu, Senior Secretary Wu Chi, Civil Vice-Governor of Peking, Yuen Chung-shu and Expectant Toatai Liu Yü Lin, as competent for the appointment of Deputy Vice-President or Coullor of that Board. Taotai Liu Yü Lin is well known in Hongkong and South China. He has been in the Consular and Diplomatic Service for the last twenty years and has spent a good deal of the time in official positions abroad.
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