THE  CURRENCY

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The  Tael  of  Currency
Of  the  various  taels  of  currency  two  may  be  considered
to  have  a  universal  range,  the  Haikwan,  or  “  Customs
tael,  and  the  Kuping,  or  “  Treasury  ”•  tael  ;  and  a  third,
the  Tsaoping,  or  “  Tribute  ”  tael,  is  current  over  a  wide
area.

Haikwan  Tael
The  Haikwan  tael  is  the  currency  in  which  duties  are
levied  by  the  Imperial  Maritime  Customs,  but  it  is  a  purely
fictitious  and  non-existent  currency.  Inquiry  leads  to  no
indication  that  it  ever  has  been  an  existent  currency  at
any  time  since  the  opening  of  the  Inspectorate  General
of  Customs,  and  it  is  certain  that  it  is  not  in  current  use
at  the  present  day.  At  no  Custom  House  does  any  merchant ­
  tender  Haikwan  taels  in  payment  of  duties,  and
the  invariable  practice  is  to  pay  all  Customs  obligations
in  local  currency  at  a  rate  of  conversion  settled  on  the
opening  of  each  of  the  several  Customs  Offices,  now  forty
in  number.  The  actual  theoretic  weight,  apart  from  any
question  of  the  quality  of  silver,  is  not  ascertainable  with
any  degree  of  certainty.  Using  an  official  weight  of  100
taels  dated  1867,  which  had  been  verified  at  Canton  by  a
weight  of  1846,  it  has  been  found  to  be  581*55  grains.  The
result  of  independent  tests  at  Canton  in  the  same  year
( I 9°5)  gave  a  weight  of  581  83  grains,  while  other  estimates
range  from  581  to  589  grains.  The  only  outside  authority
to  which  appeal  can  be  made  is  in  the  Treaties.  By  the
Trade  Regulations  annexed  to  the  British  Treaty  of  1858
the  “  picul  of  one  hundred  catties  is  held  to  be  equal  to
one  hundred  and  thirty-three  and  one-third  pounds,  avoirdupois,” ­
  giving  a  catty  of  lb.  av.  and  a  tael  of  1}  oz.  av.,
equal  to  583  3  grains  ;  while  the  Regulations  annexed  to
the  French  Treaty  of  1858  fix  the  picul  at  60  kilos,  and
453  grammes,  which  gives  a  resultant  tael  of  37783  grammes
or  583-1  grains.
Taking  the  Haikwan  tael,  then,  as  being  purely  a  money