The failure of these Chinese] banks in Hongkong made me enjquire of my Chinese friends as to; the system on which they operate. The result of my enquiry wax to give me the ins pression that there: is very little system at all.
They depend, for confidence, upon the personal reputation of one or individuals. They are, it is in Hongkong amongst the oldest business concerns. Some of them have weathered Worse econo-mie blizzards than the one we are now experiencing. But it is dificult to judge their stability. A cautious father is sometimes succeeded by a son who "speculates. There ike the limited Tiablity protect the owners of
in a really. good library of books on After searching for several boars China in the English language about the only clue on the subject. was; ound in one of the admirable books by Dr. Morse. He refers to China jas "a country in which the currency a tangled mass of complexity, great Th ba st science of
written about twenty. years not true of al Chinese banks The phrase about "inexactitude" reminds me of a story told of an friend of mine in Hongkong. There fad been a movement to inaugurate jo department of commerce in the local University. When this was! discussed with my friend he enquiry ed what subjects would be included, Amongst those mentioned was accounting. Whether he had 2 com-alex about income tax, or Whatever his first thoughts were, he instantly said "But your British methods of
Text read from the printed page and cleaned; old type leaves the occasional error.