Most of the bank-notes are printed from copperplates, but some of the petty dealers still use wooden blocks. They are longer and narrower than ours, and have a handsomely engraved border, within which are paragraphs laudatory of the ability or reputation of the firm. The notes are of three kinds: for cash, dollars, and sycee. The first are from 400 cash (1s. 3d. sterling), to hundreds of thousands, and are largely circulated in all the smaller business transactions. The dollar-notes, varying from a unit to 500, and, in some instances, to 1000, circulate among the merchants, their value continually fluctuating with that of the price of the silver which they represent. The sycee-notes are from one to several hundred taels (ounces), and are chiefly confined to the government offices, to avoid the trouble and inconvenience of making payments in silver by weight. Whatever be the value or denomination of the notes, the holder is at liberty to demand payment of the whole whenever he pleases, and receives it without abatement, as the banker makes his profit at the time of their issue. When notes are lost, payment is stopped, as here, and they are speedily traced, as it is the practice not to take notes of a high valuesay, 100 dollarswithout first inquiring at the bank as to their
genuineness. But no indemnification is made for notes lost or destroyed by accident. Promissory-notes are the chief medium of interchange among merchants, who take ten days' grace on all bills, except those on which is written the word 'immediate.'
The rates of interest are, on lands and houses, from 10 to 15 per cent.; on government deposits, which the people are made to take at times against their will, 8 per cent.; on insurance of ships and cargoes, owing to the risk from storms and pirates, from 20 to 30 per cent.; on pawnbrokers' loans, 2 per cent. per month, or 20 per cent. per annum. Five days' grace is allowed on pledges; and if goods be not redeemed within three years, they are made over to the old clothes' shops at a settled premium of 20 per cent. on the amount lent on them. Pawnbrokers' establishments are numerous, and are frequented by all classes, who pawn without scruple anything they may possess. The banks, we are informed, 'keep up an intimate connection with the pawnbrokers, who make and receive all their payments in notes for copper cash, and will not take sycee, dollars, or dollar-notesthe former, lest they should prove counterfeit, and the latter, on account of the fluctuating value. They are very particular in passing the bank-notes, and will accept only those of the large banks. A notice is hung up in each shop, specifying what notes pass current with them; and when the people go to redeem the articles they have pledged, as they can present only those notes in payment, they have often to repair previously to the bank where they are issued, to purchase them, and, being at a premium, the banker thus gains his discount upon them. Of such importance is this considered, that, without the support of the pawnbrokers' connection, the business of a banker will always be limited. Indeed, many of the banks keep pawnbrokers' shops also; and the chief banker at Fuhchow is known to have opened no less than five of these establishments. This is on account of the high interest paid on pawnbrokers' loans.'
THINGS TALKED OF IN LONDON
May, 1852.Herald Sphynx
continent.
One good effect of railways, as you know, has been to cheapen coal, and excite activity in heretofore dormant mining districtsresults which tell upon the trade in sea-borne coals. To meet this emergency, a scheme is on foot for sending coal from the Tyne to the Thames in steam-colliers, which, by their short and regular passages, shall compete successfully with the railways. The experiment is well worth trying, and ought to pay, if properly managed: meantime, our railways will extend their ramifications. Looking for a moment at what is doing in other parts of the world, it appears that there are at present 2000 miles of railway in France, besides as much more which is to be completed in four years. Portugal is only just beginning to think of iron routes: a few wakeful people are trying to impress that backward land with a sense of the advantages of rapid locomotion; and it is shewn that, by a simple system of railways, Lisbon would be placed at sixteen hours' distance from Madrid, forty-three from Paris, fifty-three from Brussels, and fifty-seven from London. Would it not be a comfort to be able to run away from the north-east monsoon, which has so long afflicted us, to the orange groves on the banks of the Tagus, in about two days and a half? A telegraph is about to be carried from the Austrian States over the Splugen into Switzerlandthe Alps, it would appear, being no bar to the thought-flasher. There is a project, too, for a regular and universal dispatch of telegraph messages from all parts of the world. A mail and telegraph route from the Mississippi across to San Francisco is talked about. The proposer considers that post-houses might be erected at every twenty miles across the American continent, in which companies of twenty men of the United States' army might be stationed, to protect and facilitate the intercommunication; news would then find its way across in six or seven days. Should this scheme fail to be realised, the Americans may content themselves with having nearly 11,000 miles of railway already open, and another 11,000 in progress.