Page:Twentieth Century Impressions of Hongkong, Shanghai, and other Treaty Ports of China.djvu/122

114 House, and is a member of the Sports Club, London. Mr. Phelips married, in 1903, Jacquette Edith, youngest daughter of the Rev. George Lambe, of "Highlands," Ivybridge, Devon. He resides at No. 72, Mount Kellet, Hongkong.



THE ASSESSOR OF RATES.—A short biography of Mr. A. Chapman, the Assessor of Rates, appears in the Volunteer section of this work.

CURRENCY.

currency of Hongkong consists of the dollar, half-dollar, twenty-, ten-, five-, and one-cent pieces, and of cash (or mil) representing the thousandth part of a dollar. The one-cent piece and the cash are of copper,

the rest of silver. The cash is practically never used. Notes of seven denominations, ranging in value from one dollar to $500 each, are issued by the Chartered Bank, the Hongkong and Shanghai Bank, and the National Bank of China. These notes had an average circulation in December, 1907, representing $16,916,166.

Two kinds of dollar are in circulation, namely the British and the Mexican. Formerly coins were issued from a mint that was opened in Hongkong in 1866 on the site now occupied by the Sugar Refinery at East Point, and run for two years at a cost of £9,000 a year, but they are never met with at the present day.

The value of the dollar is not fixed, but varies in accordance with the prevailing rate of silver. The highest point that it has touched during the last twenty years is 4s. 3¼d., in 1877, and the lowest 1s. 6½d., in 1902. The greatest variation in any twelve months occurred in 1890, when the price fell from 3s. 10¼d. to 3s. 0⅝d.

This liability to fluctuation introduces, of course, a serious speculative element into the commercial operations of the Colony, and suggestions have been made from time to time for fixing the value of the dollar, as it has been fixed recently in the Straits Settlements. The insuperable difficulty in the way of carrying out this very desirable reform lies in the fact that Hongkong is little else but a shipping centre between China and the rest of the world, and in China there is no fixed currency. Indeed, in the Chinese Empire taels, or weights of silver equal to an ounce and a third, and dollars that have been cut into sections are accepted at their intrinsic value as a medium of exchange. Silver dollars, therefore, may be regarded merely as a commodity whose value is determined by supply and demand. In these circumstances, even if the dollar were fixed in Hongkong it would not be accepted at its face value in China, and therefore the responsibility of dealing with the exchange question would only be transferred from commercial houses in Hongkong to their representatives in Canton. Under existing conditions, prudent merchants engaged in transactions between Canton and, say, London make arrangements with the local banks for a fixed dollar from time to time, and are thus enabled to quote on a safe basis. As a rule the banks will allow their offers to remain open for twenty-four hours. Although by this arrangement it is often impossible to compete with the trader who is ready to gamble by quoting at the current rate of exchange and calculating upon a fall in the value of the dollar, it is the only safe method of carrying on business.

Since 1863 quantities of subsidiary silver coinage have been minted in London and issued by the Hongkong Government for use in the Colony. The Chinese, finding this subsidiary coinage a much more convenient form of exchange than long strings of copper cash, about 1,000 of which went to the dollar, used it extensively; indeed it is estimated that not more than 10 per cent. of the coins minted by the British authorities remain in the Colony at the present day. In course of time the Chinese Government, recognising the demand that existed for these small coins, began minting them, with the consequence that the importation of British coins received a serious check and the Colony was flooded with the Chinese coinage, which, although of the same weight and fineness as Hongkong coins, are not fractions of a legal standard as the latter are. At the time of writing, both the British and Chinese subsidiary coins are at about 5 per cent. discount; in other words, a British or Mexican dollar will buy 10½ ten-cent pieces. The consequent disarrangement of local trade and the injustice which Chinese coolies suffer by being paid by their headmen in small coinage at the rate of 100 cents to the dollar engaged the attention of a specially appointed committee in the latter part of 1907. While agreeing that the only effectual method of dealing with the question was by Government intervention, since concerted individual action was, in practice, impossible, the committee found themselves hopelessly divided when they came to the formulation of a definite scheme. The majority advocated the prohibition of the importation and circulation of all alien subsidiary coinage; while the minority, fearing that this might bring about a further depreciation in the value of Canton coins and lead to financial disabilities, if not to