This whole procedure is a distinct advance toward foreign methods.
[Inclosure in No. 92.—From the North China
Daily News, December 19, 1894.]
the chinese war loan.
His Excellency Liu, acting taotai of this port, has, in obedience to
instructions from His Excellency Chang Chih-tung, dated 10th November,
issued a proclamation calling upon those native merchants, gentry, and
notables who have “any love for their country and gratitude for the
manifold mercies of their sovereign” to “joyously” subscribe to a war
loan, “with interest and repayment” having the imperial consent and
being managed with the strictest impartiality and justice. The
proclamation goes on to say that it is proposed to raise from Shanghai
alone the sum of 5,000,000 taels, and that any syndicate of men who
shall succeed in raising 1,000,000 taels shall have the privilege of
asking for an imperial autograph tablet, to be hung up at the grand hall
of any institution they like to name—that is, if the said syndicate be
composed of men who belong to the managing committee of any charitable
association. If they prefer it, these subscribers may name one or two of
their number for special imperial recognition.
As this loan is to be on the foreign style of a national debt, the
managing bureau shall be at the customs bank of Shanghai and shall be
named the “War Loan Bureau of the Board of Revenue for the port of
Shanghai.”
Furthermore, as the bonds thus issued by the Government may be used by
merchants and shippers in lieu of money to pay customs duties, etc., and
in view also that these same bonds maybe circulated as convertible paper
of the empire, His Excellency the Viceroy Chang has obtained the
Emperor’s consent that the bonds issued at Shanghai, to subscribers of
the war loan shall also bear the signature of the commissioner of
customs of Shanghai, in order that the subscribing public may feel
satisfied with the guaranty that their bonds may be used as cash in the
payment of customs dues. The taotai, therefore, in issuing this
proclamation, feels sure that the rich and loyal of his countrymen in
Shanghai, being aware of the immense sums that will be required to carry
the present war with Japan to a successful issue, will joyfully and
universally respond to the demand made upon them, and he further
guarantees that the subscribers will have no cause to repent of their
patriotism, and that the levying of yamên fees, or the like, will not be
permitted on any account by those in authority. In order to properly
protect subscribers, the taotai has, with the consent of the Viceroy
Chang and the Governor K’uei Chun, at Soochow, framed the following five
rules for the regulation and information of the loyal population of
Shanghai and its dependencies:
- 1.
- The office for the receipt of the proposed war loan shall be
situated within the premises of the customs bank on Hankow road,
and shall be named “The War Loan
[Page 92]
Bureau of the Board of Revenue for the port
of Shanghai,” This bureau shall have for its special object the
receiving of the war subscriptions and the issuing of bonds as
receipts for same, while the money thus received shall be in the
charge of the customs bank alone, nor shall any shroffage fees
be charged to subscribers.
- 2.
- The silver received shall be weighed in accordance with the
standard scale of the board of revenue, which is called the
K’u-ping or “treasury scale.” As the 98 fineness of the Shanghai
tael is less than the Ku-ping tael of the board of revenue,
every 100 taels of K’u-ping, therefore, is equal to 109.60 of
Shanghai taels.
- 3.
- The duration of the loan will be as settled upon by the board
of revenue with the imperial sanction, namely, two years and a
half, and the redemption of the bonds shall take place
semiannually. At the end of the first six months the interest on
the bonds only shall be paid. After that the redemption of the
principal will be divided into four instalments with interest on
the bonds in proportion. These periods of redemption will be
printed on the bonds, as will also be the’ amount of interest,
which has been fixed at 7 per cent per annum. Additional
interest will be paid in the event of intercalary months. If
there be any who may desire to use this method of putting out
their money at interest, as in the ordinary course of business,
they shall be allowed to follow the regulations in force at
Canton with reference to the same war loan—that is to say, they
shall be allowed to place their money with the Government for
the period of six years, in which case special bonds will be
issued to them.
- 4.
- As the redemption of bonds is to be made by the customs,
subscribers shall also be allowed to pay customs dues with these
bonds. The official seal guaranteeing the performance of the
above clause shall be the seal of the customs taotai.
- 5.
- The object of these bonds is to make them negotiable
everywhere. Hence, Chinese merchants in their transactions with
foreigners may also use them to pay their indebtedness. For this
reason the Government will only recognize the person who holds
the said bonds, irrespective of nationality. A foreigner,
therefore, who is in possession of said, bonds is just as much
entitled to use them for customs’ payments, and to take them to
the customs bank for the collection of interest due.
Should any of these bonds be accidentally destroyed by fire or water, the
owner must notify the same to the war loan bureau within five days,
giving the amount they represent, together with the guarantee of some
respectable business firm that his statement is correct.
Special proclamation the 10th day of the eleventh moon of the
twentieth year of the reign of Kuang-hsü (December 6,
1894.)
