THE CHINESE LOAN.

Timaru Herald, Volume LVIII, Issue 1819, 30 July 1895, Page 3

THE CHINESE LOAN.

The following particulars of the Chinese loan are given by the London Times : — " The contract made by China is for a 4 per cent, loan of 400,000,000fr. redeemable m 36 years by a cumulative halfyearly sinking fund. The loan is inconvertible for 15 years, and it is stipulated that CJiina is not to contract another loan before the end of the present year. The loan is secured on the customs revenues of the treaty ports, a feature which was not expected m some quarters, and it is further secured by an absolute guarantee from Lhe Imperial Russian Government. If the funds necessary for the payment of coupons should not be forthcoming on a specified day before the due date of any coupon, the Russian Treasury would at once arrange for remitting to the various bankers charged with the service of the loan the sums required. The loan is taken ' firm ' m St. Petersburg by four Russian banks, headed by the Banque Internationale pour le Commerce, and m Paris by leading Parisian banks and finance houses, under the direction of a committee con^ sisting of representatives of MM. Hottinguer et Cie, the Banque de Paris et des Pays Bas, and the Credit Lyonnais. The public issue of the loan is expected to be made towards the end of this month m Paris, St. Petersburg, and Amsterdam, at a price not far from par. The creation of so heavy a fresh charge on the revenue of the treaty ports must add greatly to the difficulty of negotiating the remainder of the very large sum which China will have to raise. From a political point of view the loan constitutes a dangerous precedent, since it gives Russia a financial hold over China which it will be very difficult to shake off, to say nothing of other considerations.