CHINA'S CURRENCY.

New Zealand Herald, Volume XLV, Issue 13873, 6 October 1908, Page 5

CHINA'S CURRENCY.

THE SILVER STANDARD.

By Telegraph Press Association.—Copyright. . London, October 4. The Hongkong correspondent of the Standard reports that the Board of Finance for China has decided to retain the silver standard.

The sole official coinage and the monetary unit of China is the copper 'cash,''"of which about 35 equal a penny. A coin recently issued in great numbers by the provincial mints is the "hundreth of a dollar." This coin, of which the issue in 1904 is computed to have been about 1,693,700,000 pieces, is readily accepted, being' regarded as correlated with the cash, and never with the dollar. The face value of the coin is about 3-10 d ; the intrinsic worth about 12-IOOd. There has] long been scarcity of coin owing to the melting down of copper money. The use of silver bullion, or syeee, as the medium of exchange, is now less common. The haikwah (or customs) tael being one. tael weight, of pure silver, was equal in 1906 to:3s 3Jjd. The dollar (of the same-value a3 the Mexican dollar) is current in all the provinces, even in out-of-the-way districts. Notes for cash are also much in vogue. In the treaty of September 5, 1902, China agreed with Great Britain to take the necessary steps to provide a uniform national coinage which should be legal tender'. for all purposes ; throughout the Empire, but no coinage law suitable to all the interests involved has vet been enacted. ~'