The Government thereafter simply ignored the problem which is still waiting for a master hand to solve it.
Allusion has already been made to another, exclusively financial, question which also troubled Sir Richard's administration as a legacy of the past, viz. the Mint established by his predecessor, Sir H. Robinson. When the Mint was first opened (April 7, 1866), it had already cost $400,000. and an additional annual expenditure of $70,000 was required for its maintenance, at a time when the Colony was virtually insolvent. An unusually low rate of exchange told at once unfavourably against the Mint's prospects. The Chinese were prejudiced against the new dollar by the false rumour that chopping the Queen's coin would involve liability to criminal procedure. Hence the local demand for minting operations was so small that it appeared to the Governor to be incommensurate with the working expenditure of the establishment. The Mint actually earned from May, 1866, to February, 1868, only about $20,000 in seignorage. Sir Richard, foreseeing this unsatisfactory result and pressed by financial difficulties, appointed a Commission (October, 1866) to inquire into the working of the Mint. The report presented by the Commissioners (January 1, 1867) was greatly discouraging, as they merely recommended to keep the Mint open for twelve months longer on the ground that the arrangements made with the Mint staff, regarding compensation in the event of the establishment being broken up, would anyhow make it just as expensive for the Colony to close the Mint at once as to keep it at work for another year. Six months later (August, 1867) when the Legislative Council considered the estimates of the Colony, it was considered necessary to reduce the estimate of seignorage, likely to accrue from the Mint in 1868, from $40,000 to $15,000. The Lords of the Treasury were consulted as to the advisability of continuing the working of the Mint under these circumstances, and in February, 1868, Sir Richard received, by telegram, authority to close it. All the Bank managers were invited to attend a meeting of the Executive Council and to advise the Government as to the
