Page:Twentieth Century Impressions of Hongkong, Shanghai, and other Treaty Ports of China.djvu/448

440 TWENTIETH CENTURY IMPRESSIONS OF HONGKONG, SHANGHAI, ETC. EXTRAORDINARY INCOME. Surplus of Ordinary Receipts Amount raised by Debentures Delicit carried forward to 1908 . Tads, .39346 250,00000 oi.5i3'38 Total ,90684 Estimated Surplus on Ordinary Budget Amount to be raised by Detien- tures if necessary Half cost of two passenger pon- toons and jetties north of Cus- toms pontoons, receivable from the Imperial Maritime Customs Estimated Deficit to be carried forward . Taelt (estimate). Total ,05100 ,00000 ,00000 .442-38 ,493-38 EXTRAORDINARY EXPENDITURE. . Taels. . Taels (estimate). Deficit from 1906 ,071-09 Deficiency from 1907 ,513-38 Bridges .371-45 Bridges ,56000 Bundings ,780-20 Bundings ,30000 Landing Stages ,495-07 Drainage ,00000 Land .339-05 Landing Stages ,750-00 Buildings ,528-14 Land ,550-00 Roads ,321-84 Buildings ,420-00 Parks and open spaces ,400-00 Ro.-tds ,00000 Total ,90684 Total ,49338 the formation of a sinking fund. They are collected on the Council's behalf by the Imperial Maritime Customs Department and paid direct to the Banque de I'lndo Chine in Shanghai.

The assets of the Council include TIs. 125.000 on tixed deposit at the Banque de I'lndo Chine, and TIs. i.35l,756'65, the value of pnncipal properties as shown in the inventory of December 31, 1907. The assessable value of land in the Con- cession, according to a re-valuafion carried out in 1908, is TIs. 21,389,052-77 gross, and TIs. 20,536,561-75 net. The rate of } per cent, on the value of land should, therefore, yield TIs. 106,945-26 next year for the whole area of 1548-2462 mow ; while, subtracting TIs. 4,26245 in respect of 1737522 mow- exempted from the payment of rates, the net receipts would In: TIs. 102,682-81. The rate of 8 per cent, on the annual rental of Euro- pean houses in the Concession is estimated to produce TIs. 18,000 in 1908 as compared with TIs. 16.655-71 in 1907, and the rate of 12 per cent, on Chinese houses is expected to yield TIs. 124.000 as against TIs. 116,076-37. The contributions for those living ticyond the limits of the Concession are set down at TIs. 6,000 for 1908, an increase of TIs. 872-66 over 1907. At the end of 1907 the Council w-ere left with a surplus of TIs, 33,906 over an expendi- ture of TIs. 524,291. For 1908 the ordinary revenue is estimated at TIs. 494,381, and the extraordinary revenue at TIs. 188.906 — a totjil of TIs. 683,287; while the ordinary expendi- ture is estimated at TIs. 483,268-50, and extra- ordinary expenditure at TIs. 199,735, being a surplus of TIs. 28392. The extraordinary receipts include, in addition to wharfage dues, a proportion of the receipts of the tramway, electric lighting, and waterworks companies. BANKING. The foreign banks in Shanghai conduct business on lines very similar to those followed in the great European and American centres, so far as purely foreign transactions are con- cerned, the main difference being that in Shanghai exchange business is dealt with more extensively. When, however, a foreigner wishes to deposit a cheque on a Chinese bank, or there are transactions to be negotiated with Chinese banks and merchants, a method of procedure entirely unknown in the West is necessitated. Each foreign bank has its Chinese compradore. a man of undoubted integrity, good social standing, and consider- able wealth, who is under contract and bond to accept entire responsibility for all dealings between the foreign hank and either Chinese banks or merchants. He employs a staff of accountants and shroffs, and has his own sets of books entirely distinct from those kept bv the foreign staff of the bank. The compradore and his shroffs make it tlicir business to know the tinancial status of the various native lianks and ol the leading Chinese merchants, and their judgment in accepting or rejecting a cheque, or an application for a loan is seldom, if ever, at fault. Very little can be ascertained regarding the foreign banks in existence in the earlier days of the Settlement. One of the first to be established was a brancli of the Chartered Bank of India, Australia, and China, which was opened in 1857, and was located on the site now known as " Makalee " (from the Chinese name of the bank), in the Kiangse Road. The present offices on the Huncl were purchased in 1892 from the New Oriental Bank. The Hongkong and Shanghai Banking Corporation commenced operations in Shang- hai in April, 1S65, the year in which their head office was established in Hongkong, The Deutsch-Asiatische Bank, which was founded by several of the leading German financiers for the purpose of furtlicring Germany's trade interests in Asia, started business in the Settlement in 1889, The Yokohama Specie Bank established an agency in Shanghai in Mav. 1893, which was obliged to suspend operations in September of the following year owing to the outbreak of hostilities between China and Japan. All outstanding affairs were placed in the hands of the Compti)ir Nationale d'Escompte de Paris, until business was resumed in July, 1895. The other existing banks are the Mercantile Bank of India, Ltd., formerly known as the Chartered Mercantile Bank of India ; the Banque de I'lndo Chine, practically a contiiuiation of the Comptoir Nationale d'Escompte de Paris ; the Kusso- Chinese Bank ; the International Banking Corporation (New York) ; the Nederlandsche Handel-M,-iatschappij ; the Sino-Belgian Bank ; and the Imperial Bank of China, a semi- official organisation established by imperial decree in 1897, Of hanks which have long ceased to exist in the Settlement may be mentioned the Bank of Agra and Masterman's Bank (afterwards the Agra Bank) ; the Bank of Hindustan ; the Central Bank of Western India ; the Commercial Bank ; the National Bank of India : and the New Oriental Bank, which occupied the site where now stands the Chartered Bank of India. All the foreign banks, except three, issue notes, which are current in the Settlement and at many of the other Treaty ports. Intermediate between the banks and the foreign merchants come the exchange brokers, who have formed themselves into an associa- tion, limited to thirty members. New members are elected by ballot, the final selection resting with the banks. There is also in Shanghai a Stockbrokers' Association, with offices on the Bund.

Chinese banks may be divided into three classes, viz., (i) the Kwan Yin Hao, or official banks ; (2) the Hwei Piao Hongs, or private merchants' exchange banks ; and (3) the Ts'ien Chwang or Ts'ien Pu, usually called cash shops. The official banks receive on deposit official revenues, besides carrying on the ordinary business of banking, such as receiving fixed deposits, advancing loans, keeping current accounts, and transferring money from place to place. The largest bank of this description in Shanghai is the Yuen Tung, known also as the Customs Bank, which receives all the Customs duties collected at the port. The second class of banks are established by merchants who have business in many places in order to facilitate the transfer of their money, and to retain for themselves the profits which arise from their