Jon, 2h, The coming month is to witness the disappearance of a very ancient practice of the Far East, a clfange which may be for the convenience of bankers, but will cause much wailing' among others. As. already announced these columns, the Association of Shanghai Banks have decreed that on and after February 4 next they will no longer accept for-collection any compradore orders, Hongkong gave up the practice some years ago, Tien-sin followed suit, and now it is tobe Shanghai's turn. The compradore order, we are told, is not a negotiable instrument; like some other old institutions, it has fallen sadly in repute until, says one banker, "it is more or less merely a signed chit." It takes ten or fifteen days to clear: the shroff who presents it rarely manages to get paid at the first time of asking; even when he finds the compradore both at home and in a mood to part, he has to be content with a native bank order, which gives more trouble. So the banks have decided that merchants must pay cash or cheque, The Chinese compradore is a historic figure. In the early days of Western trade with this country, foreign firms could only deal with a limited number of hongs, who undoubtedly made enormous fortunes out of the monopoly. This system was broken down by the Treaty of 1842 and the compradore slipped. into the place of the hongs as a necessary go-between in the transactions of foreign mer chants and Chinese consumers, It is said that no one knows exactly how the practice of payment by compradore order began, but it is not difficult to guess, A dealer's account being presented, the merchant would initial it for payment by the compradore, who would, at tain intervals, present his employer with the total of payments made by himself; and in time such orders, bearing as they, would, a good name, would come to have in practice the value of cheques, and as the whole circle of business transactions was much smaller than it is now, they were accepted by banks without demur. Among the younger members of firms, the compradore became either a friend or an enemy, according to the view one may take of a man who enables one to run up bills with gay disregard of the day of reckoning. Amazing stories used to be told of the compradore's indulgence towards the juniors of his firm, and twenty years ago taipans were pointed out who were supposed to be still paying off to the compradore the debts they had accumulated in hot youth, Even now to be able to go into a shop, order what one likes and scribble across the bill "Compradore please pay" is very comfortable, at any rate for the moment, Probably this custom will not greatly suffer through the banks' refusing to accept compradore orders. The storekeeper's shroff would seem to have more than his share of the well-mown oriental patience; there is probably some small "rake-off" somewhere in the transaction; and it is to be supposed that stores find on the whole that the system pays them, or it would never continue, But there can be little doubt that credit is far too easy in Shanghai. Ther2 is, perhaps, no place in the world where it' is possible to go through the month with so little money in one's pocket, The dividing line between the comparatively dignified compradore order and the insidious chit is almost im ile, and we all know how widely chits are accepted.
Text read from the printed page and cleaned; old type leaves the occasional error.