To the Editor of the "Nort-Cuina Darty News."
Sin,—-I have read the letter signed by One Interested" which appears in this morning's issue of your newspaper in your correspondence columns under the caption of "The Banque Industrielle."
I wish to assure the writer that I personally know for a fact that the French residents not only in Shanghai but in Tientsin, Peking, and other Far'Eastern centres have so far done everything in their power to influence and to impress the French Government of the absolute necessity of adopting such strong measures which may be in their power in order to safeguard the interests of all depositors in the Far East especially in China.
At is not a new thing when a banking institution suspends payment that all sorts of wild and unfounded rumours begin to circulate, for this is natural and cannot be helped and there are many factors too numerous to mention which are responsible for such rumours being circulated most of which, however, are due to conflicting interests involved, political, commercial and otherwise.
We have been advised officially several days ago in a Reuter's despatch, which has appeared in your columns, that the French Prime Minister has assured the French Senatorial Members that the French Government are doing all in their power in order to negotiate with strong financial banking interests so that the institution might continue and that there was good reason to hope for a satisfactory solution. In a former speech in the French Chamber of Deputies the French Prime Minister further. stated that all French financial banking institutions including the Banque Industrielle de Chine were a solid and solvent condition. This is an official statement which has emanated from the highest authority of the French Government and besides it is a Frenchman's word of honour.
It is true of course that if the Bank goes into liquidation, it will be a death blow to French interests in the Far East for at least 20 years to come and from which it is possible that they may never recover and especially it must prove disastrous when all branches of the Deutsche-Asiatic Bank are re-opening Once more. But you may rest assured that all of this information is known by the French Government and, therefore, even if the bank does liquidate I_am sure that all depositors in the Far East will be paid in full although it may probably take some time. In view of the different official statements which have so far been made concerning the solid and solvent condition of the bank, it would be suicidal on the part of the French Government to allow the bank to
Text read from the printed page and cleaned; old type leaves the occasional error.