The Pacific commercial advertiser. [volume] (Honolulu, Hawaiian Islands) 1856-1888, 1884-09-23
TIL PACIFIC
COMMERCIAL ADVERTISER.
Tuesday. Sept. 23, 1854.
FOREIGN SILVER COINS.

The trainers OF the Currency Bill
had chiefly before their minds the
necessity of allaying the agitation
caused in the minds OF the public by
the unprecedented position of the
market for exchange on San Fran
cisco, They accepted the popular
and, as we think, thoroughly correct
opinion, that gold basis for the cur
rency was the only one suitable TO 8
country, most of whose mercantile
transactions, and almost all of whose
exchanges of money are with San
Francisco, city which even during
the throes'of the civil war has never
departed from that basis. They con-
trived bill which they intended
should let the country down easily,
and with as little loss to individuals
AS possible, from the virtual silver
standard which has been in use here
to the new standard of gold. They
endeavored to throw all the loss of
the change into the Government, a
course originally advocated by this
journal. They brought up their bill
to House, few of whose MEM
bers of whatever race, were COM
petent to review it, and it was
passed very much in the same
state as it was introduced. The Act
as passed allows the public to claim
from the Treasury Hawaiian silver
coins for the face value of "coins of
all denominations for sixty days
after the issue of notice by the Minis
ter of Finance, which notice was to
to be sent out without delayu upon
the approval of the Act. There are
two mistakes in this fifth section of
the Act. First: The Treasury should
not have been obliged to receive in
exchange for Hawaiian coin anything
but the coins which have, by order of
Privy Council, under Section of the
Currency Act of 1876, been made legal
tender here. We believe that Mr..
Pratt has refused TO exchange many
descriptions of silver coin that have
been presented to him but the law
as it stands will not support him in
this action. AS the law stands,
Peruvian peso is as as good as MeXi
can peso for the purpose OF exchange
at the Treasury. Each demands Ha-
waiian silver dollar. Moreover, there
is nothing in the Act about debased
or mutilated coins. So long as they
bear the mint impress OF Sovereign
State they are to be exchanged at
their nominal value" Second
The restriction of the receipt of these
coins To sixty days after the date of
a proclamation, which is to be made
without delay after the passing of the
Act, whilst the coins themselves re-
main, by law, legal tender until 1st.
December next, is very unfair to the
public. Up to the latter date no man
can refuse to receive Mexican, French,
Spanish or English coins at the value
given to them by the order in Coun-
Gil for any debt that may be due to
him. It is all very well to warn
people, as some of our contempora-
ries have been doing, to bring in their
foreign silver coin to the Treasury
before both September. So long as
they have the right to pass these
coins as legal tender for two months
longer why should they care much
about the Treasury notice. All that
they need do is TO be smart enough
to owe other people enough to rid
them of such coin as they may have
on 3Oth November and they are ali
right. No creditor can refuse such
money up to midnight on the last day
of November next.
It appears to US that the Govern
ment might very properly take some
steps to remedy this solecism in the
Currency Act. The Chamber of Com