We have received the following letter from Mr. G. Passen, Financial Adviser to the Chinese Government Sir,—In my letter of March 3 which you were good enough to publish I stated that the strength of the resources of the Bank of Chins were such that any demands on it could be met without difficulty. In order to substantiate this statement I asked and obtained permission from the Head Office of the Bank in Peking, to request Messrs. Lowe, Bingham and Matthews to investigate the Bank's affairs and their conclusions ina report. This they did, and T enclave the balance sheet prepared by them and their report, and shall be glad if you will publish same. They more than bear out the statements I made as to the of the Bank's position, and will, I hope, be a0- cepted by the public as conclusive proof of the excellence of the management and sound financial position of this important concern.
I would specially call attention to the following conclusions of Messrs, Lowe, Bingham & Matthews namely ('hat the organization i excellent and the accuracy and rapidity shown in the preparation of the schedules is commendable.
(2) That the management is sound and ube organization of the stall good.
(3) That, contrary to the opinion given out by a section of the Press, the Bank of China has a balance of over six lakhs of Government funds in band, instead of the Government owing money to the Bank, as would be the case if the Bank had been advancing mangy for purpose which were not strictly justified by the ordinary financial intercourse between the Bank and the Government.
(4) That the loans and advances are well secured.
(5) That the Property Land & Godown appear in the balimce sheet at leas than their actual value.
(6) That the note reserve is 100 par cent. of the notes issued.
(7) That the cash and liquid assate represent about 60 per cent. of the total liabilities while the remaining 40 per cent. is fully secured, Tam. ete, Adviser to the Ministry of Finanos, Shanghai, March 24.
The Auditors' report is as follows, cents omitted.
The Governor, The Bank of China, Peking.
Dear Sir,—In accordance with instructions received we beg to report that during the past week we have been making an investigation of the affairs of the Bank as shown in a Balance Sheet drawn up on March 4, 1916.
At the commencement we may say that all our requirements 38
Text read from the printed page and cleaned; old type leaves the occasional error.