The Modern Colonial Sterling Exchange Standard
“A society like the British Empire lends itself very ill to precise definitions.” (Hansard, Nov. 9,1950)
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British Caribbean Territories (Eastern Group)

(a) Inter-Colonial Agreement

An agreement made between the Governments of the Colonies of Barbados, British Guiana, the Leeward Islands, Trinidad and Tobago, and the Colonies of Grenada, St. Vincent, St. Lucia and Dominica, comprising the Windward Islands.

Whereas it is desired to constitute a Board of Commissioners to provide for and control the supply of currency to the territories administered by the Governments participating in this Agreement:

It is hereby agreed as follows:

1. (1) There shall be constituted a Board of Commissioners of Currency to be styled the “Board of Commissioners of Currency, British Caribbean Territories (Eastern Group)” (hereinafter referred to as “The Board”) which shall consist of five members to be appointed by the Secretary of State, the Governors of Barbados, British Guiana, the Leeward Islands, Trinidad and Tobago, and the Windward Islands, each having the right to nominate one such member to represent his respective territory.

(2) The Board shall elect one of its number to be Chairman.

(3) The term of office of the members and the Chairman shall be three years, subject to their continuing resident within the territory they respectively represent. Subject to the foregoing conditions each member shall be eligible for re-appointment.

(4) In addition to the five members appointed under paragraph (1) there shall be an Executive Officer of the Board of which he shall be a member with the title of “Executive Commissioner” and the right to vote. The said Executive Commissioner shall be appointed by the Secretary of State. He shall be responsible, subject to the direction of the Board, for all executive matters connected with the procurement, issue, retirement, distribution and holding of the Board’s notes and coin.

(5) The Chairman and members of the Board shall be paid such remuneration and allowances as may from time to time be determined by the Secretary of State.

(6) Any duty devolving and any power conferred on the Board may be discharged or exercised by any three members, and, in the absence of the Chairman elected under paragraph (2), members may for the purpose of any particular meeting elect a chairman ad hoc. The Chairman shall have an original and a casting vote.

(7) The Board shall establish its headquarters at Trinidad and offices at such other places as may be required and may employ such agents, officers, and persons as may be required.

(8) If any member of the Board is for the time being unable to act the Governor by whom he has been nominated may appoint a fit person to act in his place during such inability.

(9) The Board and its officers and servants shall be deemed to be public servants for the purpose of the criminal law in force in the territories of the participating Governments.

2. (1) The Board shall have the sole right to issue currency notes and coin in the territories administered by the participating Governments who shall not issue any such notes or coin nor authorize such issue by other persons.

(2) The Board shall assume all the liabilities, obligations and responsibilities of the currency authorities of Barbados, British Guiana and Trinidad and Tobago with respect to the Government currency notes which have been issued and are in circulation on the coming into force of this Agreement. The said currency authorities shall transfer to the Board sterling in London or investments out of the existing respective Note Security Funds to an aggregate market value agreed by the Board to be the equivalent of the amount of the note liability so assumed by the Board.

(3) The Governments of Barbados, British Guiana and Trinidad and Tobago shall take all necessary measures to demonetize and facilitate the withdrawal by the Board of the currency notes issued by their respective currency authorities and in circulation and shall in due course repeal the Ordinances under the authority of which such notes have been issued.

(4) The participating Governments as and when circumstances permit shall demonetize and procure the withdrawal and appropriate disposal, under arrangements with His Majesty’s Government in the United Kingdom, of the United Kingdom coin now in current circulation in the territories administered by them.

(5) The notes and coin to be issued by the Board shall be in the following denominations:

Provided that notes and coins of other denominations may be issued as required with the approval of the Secretary of State; such notes and coin to be in dollars at the rate of 100 cents for each dollar of the value equivalent to four shillings and two pence of sterling in London.

3. (1) The Board shall establish and maintain a fund to be called “The Currency Fund” (hereinafter referred to as “The Fund”) which shall be held in London by the Crown Agents for meeting the redemption of currency and shall not be applied for any other purposes except as provided in this Agreement.

(2) The sterling in London or investments transferred to the Board in accordance with Article 2 (2) of this Agreement shall be held for the account of the Fund which shall be credited with the amount thereof at the agreed aggregate market value.

(3) There shall further be paid into the Fund:

(a) all sterling received in exchange for currency notes or coin;

(b) the proceeds of any transactions under paragraph (6) of this Article, less all expenses incurred in connection therewith.

(4) The Fund may be invested in sterling securities of or guaranteed by the Government of any part of the British Empire (except the participating Governments) or such other securities, as, with the approval of the Secretary of State, may be selected by the Crown Agents:

Provided that a proportion of the Fund shall be held in London in liquid form and such proportion may be determined and varied from time to time with the approval of the Secretary of State by the Board.

(5) The liquid portion of the Fund may be held in cash or on deposit at the Bank of England or in Treasury Bills or may be lent out at call or for short terms in such ways or invested in such readily realizable securities as may be approved by the Secretary of State.

(6) Notwithstanding anything in the preceding paragraphs contained the Board may:

(a) use any coins held for the account of the Fund for the purpose of having them re-minted and coined into current coin;

(b) pay from the Fund the cost of the purchase of metal to be minted into current coin; and

(c) sell any coins held for the account of the Fund provided that the proceeds of any such transactions shall be paid into the Fund.

(7) The value of the Fund for any of the purposes of this Agreement shall be the current realizable value of the whole of the assets held in the Fund, investments of the Fund being valued at the current market price at the time of valuation.

4. (1) The Board shall open and maintain an account to be called the “Currency Fund Income Account” (hereinafter referred to as the “Income Account”) into which shall be paid all dividends, interest or other revenue derived from investments or from the employment in any other manner of the moneys of the Fund and all commissions paid to the Board in connection with the issue or redemption of currency notes or coin.

(2) There shall be charged upon the Income Account:

(a) all the expenses other than the expenses referred to in Article 3 incurred by the Board and by the Crown Agents in the preparation, transport, issue, redemption and demonetization of currency notes and coin and the transaction of any business relating thereto;

(b) any expenses incurred by the Board for the protection of the currency against counterfeiting or forgery of coins or notes; and

(c) a sum equal to one per centum of the value of the Fund at the end of the year calculated in accordance with Article 3(7) of this Agreement which shall be paid annually into the Fund.

Provided that the Board may with the approval of the Secretary of State direct that any expenditure of an exceptional nature may be charged upon the Fund and not upon the Income Account.

(3) If on the last day in any year there is a surplus in the Income Account it shall be paid to the credit of an account to be called the “British Caribbean Territories (Eastern Group) (Currency Surplus) Account” (hereinafter referred to as the “Surplus Account”) to be set up as provided in Article 5 of this Agreement; but if on the last day in any year there is a deficiency in the Income Account it shall be met according to the scale prescribed in Article 5 (2) from any sums standing to the credit of the Governments concerned in the Surplus Account or from moneys to be appropriated and paid from the revenues of the Governments. If any Government should default on any payment due under this paragraph, the amount in default may be recovered from any subsequent payment due to that Government out of the Surplus Account as provided in Article 5 of this Agreement.

Provided that:

(a) if on the last day in any year the face value of the currency notes and current coin in circulation exceeds the value of the Fund calculated in accordance with Article 3(7) of this Agreement there shall be paid into the Fund the whole of the said surplus in the Income Account or such part thereof as shall make up the monies of the Fund as aforesaid to an amount equal to the face value of the currency notes and current coin in circulation; and

(b) if on the last day in any year the value of the Fund so calculated exceeds one hundred and ten per centum of the face value of the currency notes and current coin in circulation the Board may with the sanction of the Secretary of State direct:

i. that the whole or part of the excess over one hundred and ten per centum shall be transferred from the Fund to the Income Account: and

ii. that the annual appropriation out of the Income Account of the one per centum aforesaid shall be wholly or partially discontinued for so long as it shall appear that the necessity for such annual appropriation no longer exists.

5. (1) There shall be set up a British Caribbean Territories (Eastern Group) (Currency Surplus) Account, into which shall be paid any surplus in the Income Account arising as provided in Article 4.

(2) The participating Governments shall be entitled to share in the Surplus Account according to the following scale:

Provided that if; on the expiration of a period of two years of the quinquennial period commencing from the first day of January, 1951, a new scale is agreed upon that new scale should be substituted for the above and shall remain in force until the end of the quinquennial period; but provided further that if at the end of any such quinquennial period no such agreement is reached the scale then in force shall continue in operation for the next quinquennial period.

(3) Each of the participating Governments shall authorize from time to time the Board to pay out of its share of the sums standing to the credit of the Surplus Account its share of such charges in addition to the charges referred to in Article 4 of this Agreement as the Governments may from time to time agree should be so paid.

(4) Any balance remaining in the Surplus Account to the credit of any participating Government at the end of any year after the payment of any charges as provided in paragraph (3) of this Article shall be paid to that Government on demand.

6. (1) If the assets of the Fund should at any time prove inadequate to meet legal demands upon the Board for the conversion of currency into sterling, each participating Government shall be liable to meet any deficiency in the Fund.

(2) If the value of the Fund calculated as provided in Article 3(7) shall at any time be less than the face value of the currency notes and current coin in circulation and in the opinion of the Secretary of State it shall be necessary to make up such deficiency in the Fund either wholly or partly each participating Government shall be liable for the sum which in the opinion of the Secretary of State is required to be paid into the Fund.

(3) Any liability under paragraphs (1) and (2) of this Article shall be apportioned between the participating Governments according to the scale prescribed in Article 5 (2).

(4) Should one or more of the participating Governments make default in respect of the above imposed obligation the other participating Governments shall be liable to make good such default each in the proportion which its liability as set out in the scale bears to the total liability of such non-defaulting Governments. Provided that in the event of a default being so made good any sums due thereafter to the defaulting Government or Governments from the Surplus Account shall be paid to the Governments which have made good such defaults in the like proportions until the amount so made good by them has been refunded.

7. (1) The Accounts of all transactions of the Board shall be audited once in every year by such persons and in accordance with such regulations as the Secretary of State may prescribe.

(2) An abstract of such Accounts shall be as soon as may be after such audit published in the Gazette of each participating Government.

(3) The Board shall on the first day of each month make up and as soon as may be thereafter published in the Gazette of each participating Government, an abstract showing the whole amount of currency notes in circulation on the said day and the average amount in circulation during the previous month.

(4) The Board shall also publish half yearly in the Gazette of each participating Government an abstract showing:

(a) the amount of the liquid portion of the Fund;

(b) the nominal value and price paid for and the latest known market price of the securities belonging to the Fund.

(5) The amount of notes in circulation at a particular date shall be deemed to be the total nominal amount of notes issued prior to that date by the Board after deducting the total nominal amount of notes received by the Board prior to that date.

(6) The said abstracts shall from time to time and at least once a quarter be verified by a Board of Survey appointed in accordance with such regulations as the Secretary of State may prescribe.

8. The Government of Trinidad and Tobago, having undertaken to advance such funds as may be necessary to repay preliminary expenses and initial expenditure in connection with the establishment of the unified currency, the Board shall reimburse the Government of Trinidad and Tobago the amount of such advances.

9. Any dispute arising from the interpretation of this Agreement shall be referred to the Secretary of State whose decision shall be final and binding on all the Governments concerned.

(b) British Guiana Law Enacting Above

An Ordinance to implement an agreement to provide for a uniform currency in the Eastern Group of the British Caribbean territories. [17th June, 1950.]

Whereas government currency notes are issued in the Colony of Barbados under the authority of the Government Currency Notes (Barbados) Act, 1937, in the Colony of British Guiana under the authority of the Government Currency Notes Ordinance, 1937, and in the Colony of Trinidad and Tobago under the authority of the Government Currency Notes Ordinance;

And Whereas, by enactments of the Colonies of Barbados, British Guiana, and Trinidad and Tobago, government currency notes issued in any one of them are legal tender in all of them for the payment of any amount;

And Whereas, by enactments of the Colonies of the Leeward Islands and of the Colonies of Grenada, St. Vincent, St. Lucia and Dominica comprising the Windward Islands, government currency notes issued in the Colony of Trinidad and Tobago are legal tender in the Leeward Islands and in the Windward Islands for the payment of any amount;

And Whereas, the Currency Conference held at Barbados in May 1946, recommended in their Report that a unified system of currency notes and coin for the Eastern Group of the British Caribbean Colonies, that is to say, Barbados, British Guiana, the Leeward Islands, Trinidad and Tobago, and Grenada, St. Vincent, St. Lucia, and Dominica comprising the Windward Islands, be established;

And Whereas, the Legislatures of the respective Colonies comprising the Eastern Group of the British Caribbean Colonies have, by resolution, approved of the establishment, in accordance with the recommendations contained in the Report of the Currency Conference of a unified system of currency notes and coin for the Eastern Group of the British Caribbean Colonies;

And Whereas, the recommendations of the Currency Conference are embodied in the Agreement the terms of which are set out in the First Schedule to this Ordinance:

Be it therefore enacted by the Governor of British Guiana, with the advice and consent of the Legislative Council thereof, as follows:

3. The provisions of the Agreement set out in the First Schedule hereto, made between the Governments of the Colonies of—shall have the force of law as if enacted in this Ordinance.

(a) Barbados,

(b) British Guiana,

(c) the Leeward Islands,

(d) Trinidad and Tobago,

(e) Grenada, St. Vincent, St. Lucia and Dominica comprising the Windward Islands—

6. (1) Currency notes shall be legal tender in the Colony for the payment of any amount.

(2) Coin shall, if the coins have not been illegally dealt with, be legal tender to an amount not exceeding in the case of coins of a denomination of not less than twenty cents, ten dollars, and in the case of coins of a lower denomination, two dollars.

7. (1) The Board shall issue on demand to any person desiring to receive currency notes in the Colony, currency notes to the equivalent value (at the rate of one dollar for four shillings and two pence) of sums in sterling lodged with the Crown Agents in London by the said person, and shall pay on demand through the Crown Agents to any person desiring to receive sterling in London the equivalent value calculated as aforesaid of currency notes lodged with the Board in the Colony by the said person:

Provided that—

(a) no person shall be entitled to lodge with the Crown Agents or the Board as the case may be less than such minimum sum as may from time to time be prescribed for the purpose of obtaining currency notes or sterling as the case may be; and

(b) the Board shall be entitled to charge and levy from any person obtaining currency notes or sterling commission at such rate or rates as the Board may think fit, not exceeding three quarters per centum and in addition the cost of any telegrams sent by the Board or by the Crown Agents in connection with any transfer as above described.

(2) The Board may, at its option, issue and receive coin in the same manner and subject to the same conditions as are prescribed in subsection (1) of this section for the issue and receipt of currency notes.

10. (1) On the commencement of this Ordinance in so far as it relates to currency notes no person shall draw, accept, make or issue any bill of exchange, promissory note or engagement for the payment of money payable to bearer on demand or borrow, owe, or take up any sum or sums of money on any bill of exchange, promissory note or engagement for the payment of money payable only to bearer on demand of any such person:

Provided that—

(a) cheques or drafts payable to bearer on demand may be drawn on bankers or agents by their customers or constituents in respect of moneys in the hands of these bankers or agents held by them at the disposal of the person drawing such cheques or drafts; and

(b) bank notes issued before the commencement of this Ordinance by banks duly authorized by law so to do shall be exempt from the operation of this section subject to the provisions of subsection (1) (c) of section four.

(2) Any person contravening the provisions of this section shall, notwithstanding anything to the contrary in any other law, be liable on summary conviction to a fine of two hundred and fifty dollars or to a fine equal to twice the amount of the bill, note or engagement in respect whereof the offence is committed whichever is the greater notwithstanding that the amount of such fine may be in excess of the ordinary jurisdiction of a magistrate’s court.

(3) A prosecution under this section shall not be instituted except by the Board or by an agent duly authorized by the Board in writing.

13. Nothing in this Ordinance shall be construed as affecting any rights which Barclays Bank (Dominion, Colonial and Overseas), formerly the Colonial Bank, may have at the commencement of this Ordinance to issue or re-issue bank notes in the Colony.

15. (1) This Ordinance, in so far as it relates to currency notes, shall come into operation on such date as the Governor shall by Proclamation published in the Gazette appoint.

(2) This Ordinance, in so far as it relates to coin, shall come into operation on such date as the Governor shall by Proclamation published in the Gazette appoint.