CUBAN BANKS

Otago Daily Times, Issue 19761, 12 April 1926, Page 9

CUBAN BANKS

RUN BY DEPOSITORS. RAPID TRANSFER OF CURRENCY. (Pre» Aisociatiou— Lj Telegraph—Copyright.) NEW YORK, April 10. (Received April 11, at 11.6 p.m.) ‘ Hurried calls from the Cuban branches of the Royal Bank of Canada, the National City Bank, and the National Reserve Bank that hundreds of their branches throughout tl Republic were being besieged by depositors who demanded the return of their savings owing to a rumour that a moratorium was about to be declared, caused the bead offices of these institutions here to run millions of currency by gunboat and aeroplane. The moratorium canard was due to national depression arising from, poor conditions in the sugar .trade which, it was said, had been heavily hit by the American tariff. The run upon + he banks assumed amazing proportions, the 6 branches of the Royal Bank quickly emptying their vaults. President Machada of Cuba, in an effort to stem the tide, appeared at the Roval Bank’s offices at Havana and deposited £IOO,OOO dollars of his personal funds, explaining that the crowd must not lose its reason. It is stated that the Treasury of Cuban Government stood solidy behind the institutions. The offices of the various banks in New Ycrk kept their staffs busy on Saturday afternoon loading armoured cars with currency to ship to Cuba while the Florida banks which are only a few hours distant from the islands reported that they were transporting all the available funds by fast launches.—A. and N.Z. Cable.