Per cent. Bonds. Coupon' No, 65 due on December 1, 1995, includ~ {ing that attached to bonds drawn but not redeemed, will be pald fat the offices of the Hongkong Shanghai Bank Corporation on June Land thereafter—Reuter, Commerce," but the point of view which he presents Isa very logical tone, For the past three years and more, there has been very little prop= erty bought or sold in Shanghai. There has been enormous dim culty over the collection of rents, and foreclosure under a mortgage, although interest payments have been seriously. in arrear, has been rendered almost impossible. As a result, values have allen to a point totally unjustified by unsatisfactory commercial conditions. Business 1s now showing distinct signs of improvement, and the Position as far as rents are concerned is less unsatisfactory than it was, but land and property values are not rising in prom portionate degree. This city, through Which more than half of China's tor-feign trade passes, is still. suffering from acute "depression because its whole credit structure has been built jupon land and property values, and hundreds of millions of dollars invested in this way remain frozen, yielding little or no"interest, The position is an artificial one, arising initially from the ruling of the Judiclat Yuan that there should be no foreclosures until the final Judgment Jof the highest Court in the land had been obtained. It fs useless to ex-lain again the interminable delays Which this ruling has entailed. Di honest borrowers have found in it a means of escaping from their obliga-ions, and, working on parallel lines, tenants have also. discovered many Hoop-holes in the law through which {they might escape paying their rents. Judges, on their part, appear to have taken tenants under their wing, with the Ill-conceived idea that it is their duty to protect the weak from the strong, and many landlords, suing for rent long overdue, have been met with Aecisions ordering a reduction of rent, instead of payment of the amounts outstanding, although it has been shown that the original rents charged were not excessive, and that there were many empty properties available to which tenants might go if they were dissatisfied.
Text read from the printed page and cleaned; old type leaves the occasional error.