with the unofficial Members in voting against it. Moreover, with the single exception of the Chief Justice (W. H. Adams), all the Members of Council, both official and unofficial, agreed forthwith in passing a resolution stating 'that the maintenance of troops in Hongkong is not necessary purely for the protection of Colonial interests or the security of the inhabitants, and that the Colonial revenue cannot fairly be charged with any contribution towards the Imperial military expenditure in China and Japan.' In communicating to H.M. Government the unanimous protest of the colonists, Sir H. Robinson (September 7, 1864) suggested that, if there must be a military contribution, it had better be imposed by an Order of Her Majesty in Council.' The Secretary of State (Mr. Cardwell) subsequently agreed to take this course (August 11, 1865) if the Legislative Council should insist upon it. But when the point was discussed in Council (November 10, 1865), the Members agreed to appropriate the amount by annual vote of the local legislature.
It has been stated above that Sir J. Bowring recommended to the Lords Commissioners of H.M. Treasury the establishment in Hongkong of a Mint and the issue of a British dollar. This suggestion was publicly taken up again during Sir H. Robinson's administration and the Governor was urged (October 4, 1860) to remedy the embarrassing fluctuations in the value of the Mexican dollar, and the constant complaints of the insufficiency of small silver coins procured from England, by the local establishment of a Mint. Sir Hercules, however, hesitated to move in the matter, owing to the refusal which his predecessor's recommendations had met with. Meanwhile the currency question became more pressing. In July, 1861, clean Mexican dollars bore a premium of 7 per cent., above their intrinsic value as compared with bar and sycee silver, and subsequently reached a premium of nearly 12 per cent. which, however, fell again to 8 per cent. in spring 1863. It was felt that these excessive fluctuations of the common medium of exchange in China and Japan must tend to embarrass the operations of commerce. Sir Hercules obtained, in 1862, the sanction of the Colonial Office
