CURRENCY OF THE STRAITS SETTLEMENTS 1865 – 1921 by
Saran Singh AMN, FRNS
Prior to 1898
the principal monetary unit in the Straits Settlements
was the Mexican Dollar which had gradually replaced the earlier Spanish
Dollars. Vide order of the Governor in Council
of 10th January 1874, (under Ordinance of 1867), the American Trade
Dollar and the Japanese Yen (which had been modelled on the Hong Kong Dollars)
were admitted to the Straits Settlements as unlimited legal tender on equal
parity with the Mexican Dollar. In 1895
the British Trade Dollars were introduced with legal tender status. The subsidiary coinage for the Straits Settlements consisted of the ¼, ½, 1, 5, 10 and
20 cents introduced between 1871 – 1872 and the 50 cents introduced in
1886. There were no official banknote issues
by the Government. The banknotes in
circulation were issued by three private banks.
By 31st December 1891, the total amount of currency notes in
circulation were as follows:
Banks Singapore Penang Malacca
Total
The Chartered Mercantile
Bank of India, London & $573,095 $428,875 $179,400 $1,181,370
China (ceased to issue in 1893)
The Chartered
Bank of India $1,328,439 $1,496,873 - $2,825,312
Australia & China
The Hongkong & Shanghai $1,396,557 $546,594 - $1,943,151
Banking
Corporation
------------- ----------- ----------- ------------
Total $3,298,091 $2,472,342 $179,400 $5,949,833
Note: The Oriental Bank Corporation which had been formed on 30th
Aug 1851 under Royal Charter had a branch in Singapore. This bank collapsed in early 1884 and the
outstanding notes issued by its Singapore
branch amounting to over $300,900 had to be cashed by the abovementioned
private banks so as to maintain their own reputations.
On 1st
May 1899 the Straits Settlements Government issued its first series of
banknotes in denominations of $5, $10, $50 and $100 dated 1st
September 1898, which circulated at par with the Mexican Dollar and the
banknotes issued by the two remaining private banks. The first issue of the $1 note was dated 1st
September 1906 followed by the $1000 note dated 17th March 1911.
In 1903 and 1904
the first Dollar silver coins for the Straits Settlements
were released. The Mexican Dollar, Hong
Kong Dollar and the British Trade Dollar coins were demonetized with effect
from 31st August 1904 and replaced by the new Straits dollar.
In January 1906
the Straits Settlements had adopted the gold
exchange standard. A gold value of 2
shillings 4 pence was given to the Straits Settlements Dollar by the Government
which also authorized the Board of Currency Commissioners to receive gold at
the rate of £7 for Straits $60.00.
By November
1906, the first Straits Settlements large
silver dollars (.900 fine, 26.95 gms, 37.3 mm) dated 1903 and 1904 became
intrinsically worth their face value. A
second series of smaller Straits dollars of a lower silver weight (.900 fine,
20.21 gms, 34.3 mm) were struck between 1907 – 1909.
This series also
became overvalued by August 1917 and was subsequently replaced by a third issue
of a further reduced silver content and weight, (.500 fine, 16.84 gms, 34.1 mm)
dated 1919 and 1920.
Early in 1917,
there were also difficulties connected with the subsidiary silver coinage (5,
10, 20 and 50 cents). This was due mainly to the high and ever rising price of
silver and its increasing scarcity owing to the world demand for the metal.
This led to a shortage of small change. To overcome the problem, the Government
decided to issue new subsidiary coins of the same denomination but with only
.400 fine silver content as against the pre-war .600 fine silver coins. Pending
the issue of these new coins and to overcome the acute shortage, the Government
vide ‘The Legal Tender Enactment 1913 and Amendment Enactment 1917’, issued
Emergency 10 Cents and 25 Cents banknotes in 1917. The first issues printed by
the Government Survey Office in Kuala
Lumpur were rather crude and poorly printed but were
gradually improved and proved popular with the people. The 10 Cents Emergency
note bearing various dates was issued from 1st October 1917 to 10th
June 1920. The 25 Cents Emergency note was undated but was issued between 1917
– 1918.
On 29th
August 1918 ‘The Legal Tender (Supplementary) Enactment 1918’ came into force
which provided for the issuance of the 5, 10 and 20 cents coins of a lower
silver (.400 fine) content. This was followed on the 29th October
1919 by ‘The Legal Tender (Supplementary) Enactment 1919’ which reduced the
fineness of the 50 cents and $1 coins from .900 fine to .500 fine. It proved
difficult to produce a 5 Cents coin of sufficient size and reduced weight to be
easily portable. To overcome this difficulty, a cupro-nickel 5 cents coin was
minted in 1920 but it did not become very popular with the people
The value of the
Straits Settlements currency in comparison to
the British Pound in 1920 was as follows:
Dollar, silver nominally 2 sh. 4 d.
50 cents, silver
” 1 sh. 2 d.
20 cents, silver ” 0 sh.
5.6 d.
10 cents,
silver ” 0 sh. 2.8 d.
5 cents, silver ” 0 sh. 1.4 d.
1 cent,
copper ” 0
sh. .28 d.
1/2 cent,
copper ” 0
sh. .14 d.
1/4 cent, copper ” 0
sh. .07 d.
In 1921, the Straits Settlements dollar was equal to US $0.57 cents.
It is interesting to note that in 1983 the Malaysian Ringgit (Dollar) is equal
to approximately US $0.43 cents and when compared to the British Pound, it equals
28 pence (The British 28 new pence would be equivalent to about 5 shillings 7
pence in the old terminology). (Note: In July 2011, the Malaysian Ringgit
(Dollar) is approximately equal to US$ 0.34 cents).
By early 1921,
practically all silver coinage, with the exception of small change, had been
gradually replaced in the Straits Settlements and Federated Malay States with
the new Straits Settlements banknotes. The
denominations of the banknotes in circulation by this time were the 10 cents,
25 cents, $1, $5, $10, $50, $100 and $1000. A $10,000 banknote was introduced
soon after in 1922 but this was meant mainly for interbank transactions.
In 1921, ‘The
Legal Tender (Supplementary) Enactment came into force. The Chartered Bank of India, Australia
& China
as well as the Hongkong & Shanghai Banking Corporation relinquished their
banknote issuing rights at the request of the Straits Settlements Government.
Most of the old banknotes of these two banks had been withdrawn but a total of Straits Settlements $250,185 was still outstanding by
late 1921. This balance was however covered by securities lodged in London with the Crown
Agents for the Colonies.
It is
interesting to note that by 1921 the banknotes of the Straits Settlements
circulated at par in British North Borneo (Sabah) but the banknotes of the
British North Borneo Company were accepted at a slight discount in the Straits Settlements.
10 Cents, various dates (1917 – 1920) Emergency issue. Size: 118mm x 76mm.
Printer:
Government Survey Office, Kuala Lumpur,
F.M.S.
Signature: A.M.
Pountney (Treasurer), H. Marriot
(Acting Treasurer)
25 Cents, No
Date (1917 – 1918) Emergency issue.
Size: 109mm x 76mm
Printer:
Government Survey Office, Kuala Lumpur, F.M.S.
Signature: H.
Marriot (Acting Treasurer), Tiger on reverse.
10 Cents 14thy
October 1919 Emergency issue. Size:
109mm x 63mm
Printer: Thomas
De La Rue & Co. Ltd, London
Signature: A.M.
Pountney (Treasurer). Dragon on reverse.
References:
(a) ‘A History of Currency in the British
Colonies’ by Robert Chalmers, pages 381 – 388 (England, 1893)
(b) ‘Colonial and Foreign Coinage of Britain’
published by the National Bank of South Africa Ltd. in Pretoria,
Transvaal, page 275 (South Africa, 1920)
(c) ‘Guttag’s Foreign Currency and Exchange
Guide’ page 56 (New York, 1921)
(d) ‘Dictionary of the World’s Currencies and
Foreign Exchanges’ by William F. Spalding, pages 181 – 183 (England, 1928)
(e) Illustrations of above three notes –
courtesy of Mr Steven Tan, Kuala
Lumpur.
(This article was originally published in the Malaysia
Numismatic Society Bulletin,
Volume 15 No. 10, October 1983).
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