Currency, Created Over 76 Years Ago, Now Threatened wi ith Extinction sycee taels of imported bar silver.
Almost all sycee taels have their origin in bar silver imported from, abroad. The following isthe In view of the interest which has Iheen aroused as a result of the efforts of the Nanking Ministry of nce to. abolish the tael and the possibility of the disappearance of arm of currency' in order way for the dollar as China's Pac Of carrer ie Tae flowing Jeter, addressed Editor of the *North-China He as far back as July atr. E, Kann is illuminating:
Until 1856 the trade of Shanghai iwas financed by means of the Carolus dollar, states Mr. Kann. Due to" the discontinuance of mint jing Spanish dollars during the first Javarter of the 19th century, this jeurrency became seareer and scarcer in 1853, it stood at a premium fat Shanghai of over 80 per cent. (This anomalous situation gradually became untenable, notwithstanding the partial decline of the premium lover the intrinsic value of the coin. 'When, in the autumn of 1856, the Shanghai banks and firms had' consented to change the book-currency from Carolus dollars to Shanghai taels, the former stood at a market premium which made it equal in value to the Shanghai tael. It wi therefore, simply a matter of subing the name of one currency other, without changing the Born under such happy auspices, the Shanghai currency tael, cream Joy chreumstances without' official assistance now looks back on a career of over 70 years, Our vener-fable septuagenarian has enjoyed the unbounded fof the world, a which it has imp!
'The unrest, which during the last 15 years has permeated the entire be, was responsible for uproot jing of doctrines and. firmly' lai foundations. Gold turned into paper, the battered reninants of which were carried away by the {tempest into nothingness.
But the medieval sycee tael far with-stately movements which, for, Jack of a Better name, can be called dancing. They hoped thereby to assist the enthusiast to become the Princely Man, but history has not recorded conspicuous successes regard. Doubtless, however, their rhythmic movements were. lof assi nce in improving the moral look of many an unregenerate student. Or, as we Jshould put it these days, in deoxidising his brain tissue. The idea that the pleasures of the Jdance might be improved by the presence of a partner of the opposite sex would, however, have scandalised the Confucian scholar. And the suggestion that the practice of kissing had ever at any time in any country made dancing more popular would have been too horrifying even to be entertained. Their, movements were designed for a fixed purpose—moral improvement. And it is open to question hhow far the practice of kissing,
end. freely indulged in, tends to this Whetever the motive for dancing—religious enthusiasm, patriotism, or just a superfluity of oxygen in the brain tissues—it remains a fact that even the latest of ballroom crazes comprises very little more than what has been described in the children's game, "Lubin lay." The game, as you will remember, goes on to deal with all the limbs in turn. "Thus are modern. variations of the dance included. For the Charleston the second a tittle" might be dropped. From the side-lines, which is frequently occupied position, it appears that the shaking of the feet required in this and similar dances forms one of the principle reactions. Of the other parts of the anatomy there is less need to. speak." From the side-lines they) appear fo come in for their [share also. So long, however, as the brain tissues benefit, er cism is unjustified. In summer, when writers are totalling up. former temperatures and hinting that records might be broke the welfare of brain tissues is. of prime importance. And the moral of that is, as the Duchess would say, open more dance halls, Up the cabarets! jstocdthe onslaught of mature and Everything on earth is perishable. The bodily clumsiness of the sycee tael forms an obstacle to its successful future career in a world, the foundations of which are resting on liars of the most modern construc tion, The usefulness of the Shanghai tael as a medium of circulation problematical, It has to go, and it undoubtedly will go, But it ts desirable that the replacement of the sycee tael should be accomplish Jed without dislocation of conditions relating to trade in China.
Economic conditions in this country are undergoing rapid changes, land the time has come when it might become imperative to ha la. plausible and satisfactory defi tion as to what a Shanghai currency tael really is. In referring to the findings supplied by authorities lon Eastera finance, one is confronted with a mass of contradictory idence which, under the circum: stances, cannot be accepted as final.
The entire commercial and Sinai cia} community of our port is deeply concerned with the existence of th: good old sycee tach, Hitherto a 'Shanghai tael was "a Shanghai tael, Jand no questions asked". Times land circumstances are changing rapidly. What has been the Shanghai tael of yesterday might be something else to-morrow,—an object of undefinable value' and the cause of complicated litigation, All wholesome trade in Shanghai is based on the tael, Almost all surance is effected in this currency jand practically all mortgages are contracted in Shanghai taels. Sales jand purchase of foreign exchange, often for delivery far forward, are to be accounted for in taels. What. of it when, for instance, a mortgage falls due three years "hence at time when the good old. sycee tael might have ceased to exist,—except Tt is beyond doubt that, at the resent tion as to what a Shanghai This is left to respon bodies connected with either the finances or the trade of this country. The purpose of this essay is merely to start the wheel going and to invite intelligent comment and "ism to my attempt at a final definition ax to what a Shanghai tael really is. It might become a essing necessity to insert into or future contracts a payable in Shanghai sycee taels, which is understood to if a definition regard-ting the Shanghai sycee. currenc tact, we have to examine the following three points:
1.—The theoretical aspect, If the Shanghai currency inel was a, coin it would (ike. "the "Indian steb08, Se, IMeiath, me, Tes rupee or the English pound £) be
eight is 1 Chauying'ounce, which 566.65 grains troy or 36.04 rammes, Therefore, the Shanghai sycee tael is represented by a lump of pure silver (1,000 fine) weighing 518.612 grains, or 33.599 grammes.
In parenthesis, it-might be mentioned that, by" virtue' of the old Shanghai convention $80 Chauping ounces. on the scale are taken in payment of 1,000 Shanghat corrie.oee 980= 009880, The figure of 0.985 is accepted a the conventional nents for Shang Furthermore, Shanghai sycee is often 0.985, sometimes 0085, ete fine." But this te, "for every degree of fineness above the conventional standard of 0.996, ete, is" marked in ink on every shoe if the shape of premium, grains silver=1 Shanghe currency tad, 110.90" Shanghai taels=100 Canton 1 Canton tael=S7884. gra St" =822.840 grains.
Here we find the result which is longer by 4.337 per mille than the theoretical parity. How is this deviation to be accounted for?
The answer will be found in the following factors:—(a) The figure of 110.90, the ofice constant, ing shops, often 111.20; event the result will' be correspondingly smaller, (b) The real testis brought about, as soon as the sycee taels are Shipped shroud, in over to be reconverted there into bar' silver. Then it will bbe seen that the neb result will "show an out-turn of about 4 per mille" less "than is indicated by the formula this difference comes under the title of toler-lance. Shipments of Shanghai sycee to London have clearly proved what is asserted here. In my book "The Currencies of China" (second edition page 98), it has been shown beyond dispute that the fineness of Shanghai sycee exported abroad is 0.935, so that my assertion under (1) ix fully borne out by facts, By comparing the fine contents of the Yuan" Shih-kai dollar with the Shanghai sycee tae),
fo This can be done by applying the 1 Shanghai ye18=100 Yuan Shell-kat dollars, ins troy, 0.890 fine.
(0.998 one) unco troy.
Text read from the printed page and cleaned; old type leaves the occasional error.