COINAGE ORDERS IN COUNCIL
Title
COINAGE ORDERS IN COUNCIL
Description
13-COINAGE ORDERS IN COUNCIL.
(a)ORDER IN COUNCIL empowering the Treasury to fix the Rate at
which Dollars are to be issued to Her Majesty's Forces and for
Her Majesty's Imperial Service in Hongkong, China, Japan, and
the-Straits Settlements.
At the Court at Osborne House, Isle of Wight, the 12th day
of August, 1876.
PRESENT :
The Queen's most Excellent majesty in Council.
WHEREAs by a proclamation issued by Our Order in Council, dated the
27th day of November, 1875, it was declared and ordained that from and
after the date of the publication thereof, the silver dollar of mexico, and
any other, silver dollar of equal value, and the silver and other coins
representing fractional parts of such dollars, duly authorised to be a legal
tender of payment in Our Island of Hongkong and its Dependencies,
should be issued in payments to Our land and naval forces in Our.said
Island and its Dependencies, and elsewhere upon the China Station,
and for Our diplomatic, consular, and other Imperial Services at the
various ports of China and Japan, at the rate of four shillings and one
penny to each dollar.
AND whereas by. another proclamation issued by Our Order in Council,
dated the 27th day of november, 1875, it was declared and ordained that,
from and after ihe date of the publication thereof, the silver dollar of
Mexico, and any other silver dollar of equal value, and the silver and
other coins representing fractional parts of such dollars, duly authorised
to be a legal tender of payment in Our Colony of the Straits Settlements,
hhould be issued in payments to Our land and naval forces, and for Our
other Imperial Services, if any, in Our said Colony and adjacent ivaters,
at the, rate of lour shillings and one penny to each dollar:
AND WHEREAS it is expedient that, in view of the continual fluctuations
in the value of silver, the said rate should be revised and altered from.
time to time:-
Now WE, by the advice of Our Privy Council, have thought fit to and
do hereby declare and ordain that on and after the 1st day of October next
the silver dollar of Mexico and any other silver dollar of equal value and
the silver and other coins representing fractional parts of such dollars,
duly authorised to be a legal tender in Our said Colonies, shall be issued
to our land and naval forces, and for other Imperial Services, in Our
said Island of Hongkong and its Dependencies, and elsewhere upon the
China Station, and at the various ports in China and Japan, and in Our
said Colony of the Straits Settlements and adjacent waters, for payments,
the amount of which may be payable in sterling money, at such rate
as the Lords, Commissioners of Our Treasury shall fix from time to time.
(b) ORDER IN COUNCIL, 2nd February, 1895.
WHEREAS it is expedient to provide for the coinage of a British silver
dollar for circulation in Our Colonies of the Straits Settlements, Hong-
kong, and Labuan, and elsewhere;
NOW, THEREFORE, We, by and with the advice of Our Privy Council,
and by virtue of all powers vested in Us in that behalf, do hereby order
as follows:-
-And the, Lords. Commissioners of Our Treasury are to give the requisite
directions accordingly.
1.(l). A: British Dollar shall be coined under the direction of the
master of Our Mint or at one of Our Mints in British India, and be of
the metal, weight, and fineness specified in the schedule to this Order,
subject to the remedy there specified.
2. such dollar. -shall have for obverse impression the figure of
britannia standing upon a rock in the sea, her right hand holding a
trident and her left hand- resting on a shield, with a ship in the. distance,
and the inscription 'One Dollar ' and the date of the year, the -whole
surrounded by a Chinese ornamental border; and for the reverse
impression, surrounded by a similar border, a scroll pattern with the
Chinese labyrinth in the centre, and the value of the piece, in Chinese
and Malay characters, respectively, arranged crosswise within the scroll.
2. This Order may be cited as the British Dollar Order, 1895.
SCHEDULE.
(e) ORDER IN COUNCIL, 2nd February, - 1895.
WHEREAS by virtue of the laws repealed by this Order, certain silver
dollars and other silver coins, and coins of copper or mixed metal, are
legal tender in Our Colony of Hongkong:
AND WHEREAS it appears to Us, by the advice of Our Privy Council,
that it is expedient to repeal the said laws and to make a law respecting
the coins which are to be the subject of contract and to constitute legal
tender in Our said Colony:
now THEREFORE, We, by and with the advice of Our Privy Council,
and by virtue of all powers vested in Us in that behalf, do hereby ordain
and enact as follows: And the Lords Commissioners of Our Treasury,
and the Most Honourable the Marquess of Ripon, K.G., one of Our
Principal Secretaries of State, are to give the requisite directions herein
accordingly.
1-(1) The Mexican silver dollar of the standard weight and millesimal
fineness specified in the 1st schedule to this Order shall be the standard
coin of Our Colony of Hongkong, in. this Order referred to as the
Colony.
(2) Every contract, sale, payment, bill, note, instrument and security
for money and every transaction, dealing, matter and thing whatever
relating to money, or involving the payment of or the liability to pay any
money, shall, in the absence of express agreement to the contrary, he held
to be made, executed, entered into, done, and had in the Colony, accord-
ing to the standard coin of the Colony.
(3) The coins mentioned in the 2nd schedule to this Order shall be
treated as equal to the standard coin.
2. If, on the report of the Governor of the Colony, the Commissioners
of Our Treasury and a Secretary of State from time to time declare that
they. consider any dollar not mentioned in the 2nd schedule to this
Order to be equivalent in value to the standard coin, or to any of the
dollars therein inentioned, then, after the date fixed by the Governor in a
proclamation stating the declaration, and setting forth in a schedule the
saine particulars with respect to the dollar as are set forth in the said 2nd
schedule, this Order shall apply as if the schedule in the proclamation
were added to the 2nd schedule to this Order.
3.- (1) If the Governor of the Colony at any time requests that any
new subsidiary coins of less value than the dollar, whether of silver,
copper, or mixed metal, be coined, and the Commissioners of Our Treasury
and a Secretary of State approve such recluest, those new coins may be
so coined under the direction of the Master of Our Mint, or at one of Our
Mints in British India.
(2) Such new coins shall have either the same impressions as the coins
specified in the 3rd schedule to this Order (in this Order referred to as
existing coins) or such other impressions as may be approved of by the
Master of Our Milit and-by a Secretary of State.
(3) Any such new coin, may be. of - the same denomitiation as any
existing subsidiary coin, or of a different- denomination.
(4) Every such new coin, if of silver, shall be of the same fineness as
the existing silver coins, dud of a weight bearing the same proportion
to the weights of those coins as the denomination of the new coins bears
to the -denominations of the existing coins.
(5) As regards both the existing coins and the new coins, the remedy
of fineness shall be three-thousandths, the remedy of weight shall be
such that the gross deviation in weight on such number of coins of any
given denomination as amount to the value of a dollar shall not cxeced
that allowed on the British dollar.
4.-(1) A tender of payment of money in the Colony, if made in the
standard coin or in any coins specified in the 2nd or 3rd schedule to this
Order, shall, if the coins have not been dealt with in any manner prohibit-
ed by law, and if of silver have not become diminished in weight by wear
or otherwise, so as to be of less weight than the weight in that behalf
specified in the schedule to this Order as the least current weight, be a
legal tender-
(a) in the case of dollars, for the payment of any amount.
(b) in the case of the other silver coins, for the payment of an
amount not exceeding two dollars, but for no greater amount;
(c) in the case of coins of copper or mixed metal, for the payment
of an amount not exceeding one dollar, but for no greater
amount.
(2) Each coin shall be a legal tender only for the amount of its
denomination.
(3) If any new coins are coined, this article shall, after the date fixed
by the Governor in a proclamation made with the approval of the Coni-
Anissioners of Our Treasury and a Secretary of State setting forth in a
schedule the same particulars with respect to each coin as are set forth
in the 3rd schedule to this Order, apply to the new coins as if the sche-
dule to the proclamation were added to that 3rd schedule.
.5. On the commencement of this Order the laws specified in the 4th
schedule to this Order and all other laws regulating legal tender in the
Colony shall cease to be in force.
6. Nothing in this Order, nor any repeal of law by this Order, shall
allect any liability incurred, made, or other thing done before the com-
mencement of this Order.
7. In this Order,-
Theexpression ' Governor ' means the Governor of the Colony,
and includes the officer for the time being administerin
Government of the Colony.
The expression ' Secretary of State means one of Our Principal
Secretaries of State.
Words in the singular include the plural, and words in the plural
include thesingular.
8. This Order may be cited as the Hongkong (Coinage) -Order,
1895.
9. this order shall come into operation on the 1st day of April 1895
or any earlier day on which it is proclaimed in the Colony by the
Governor, And that day is -in this- Order referred to as the commencement
of the Order.
COINAGE ORDERS IN COUNCIL 29 Coinage of British dolar. Description of impressions. Short title. cf Ordinance No.7 of 1895. Mexican dollar. British and Hongkong dollars. Power to include other dollars. New and existing subsidiary coins. Legal tender. Repeals. Repeal not retrospective. Definitions. Short title. Commencement of order.
Abstract
Coinage of British dolar. Description of impressions. Short title. cf Ordinance No.7 of 1895. Mexican dollar. British and Hongkong dollars. Power to include other dollars. New and existing subsidiary coins. Legal tender. Repeals. Repeal not retrospective. Definitions. Short title. Commencement of order.
Identifier
https://oelawhk.lib.hku.hk/items/show/1024
Edition
1912
Volume
v3
Number of Pages
6
Files
Collection
Historical Laws of Hong Kong Online
Citation
“COINAGE ORDERS IN COUNCIL,” Historical Laws of Hong Kong Online, accessed December 18, 2024, https://oelawhk.lib.hku.hk/items/show/1024.