haved most considerately toward the mortgagor of the property in question, the sale has been described in adverse terms. The Bank is alleged to have disregarded the general Interests of the community at a time of serious depression. Moreover, efforts were actually made to move a Chinese Court to make a show of interference on behalf of certain second mortgages, The Chinese Government has been approached for its: good offices. It has, 'S0 report goes, made proposals to the Hongkong and Shanghai Banking Corporation and that institution has shown its appreciation of the Government's good intentions by making an exceedingly fair offer to accept repayment of the relevant dues by four instalments over a period of two years. This obviously shows that the Bank fs still in a forbearing mood which is all the more creditable in the light of the curiously uninformed—criticism expended on the auction sale and events leading up thereto, It must be recorded that the Bank in lending money at a cheap rate to this Chinese mill was giving to industry assistance which, unfortunately, was considerably' offset by the heavy taxation imposed on the millowners by the Government and by the high rates of interest governing other means of accommodation, When the Mill's dimculties are being made a matter of national import, it is extraordinary that the taxation should be continued, while, ironically enough, the Bank is expected (0 forego its interest and in addition pay certain Municipal taxes, together with outstanding fire and other insurances, although such expenditure Is exclusively the mortgagor's concern. The attempt to represent the Hongkong and Shanghai Banking Corporation as the villain of the piece is pitifully unimpressive, if these facts are properly regarded.
Its clear, of course, that Chinese commercial opinion is by no means. tolerant of this agitation—and with good reason. The practice of raising money on the security of title }deeds of property situated in the International Settlement and registered at the British Consulate is well-known and has long been the basis for important business transactions in Shanghai. The procedure is so familiar that it is understood by every business man. Chinese Banks, no less than Foreign Banks, have recognized the value and the reliability of such securities. Once let it be thought that rights secured under these instruments are subject to defeat on other than legal or commercial grounds, then the whole fabric of credit built up on the landed property in Shanghai is in serious danger. Those who urge that the existing depression "should have deterred the Bank from exercising its rights, would do well to consider whether they are not themselves engaged in aggravating the rigours of that depression by. sponsoring arguments which, if accepted, would strike at the very root of Shanghai's financial stabil-Wty. Criticisms which have been levelled against Shanghai of late have pointed to inflated land values and excessive indulgence in land speculation as contributory causes to the present crisis. There is no
Text read from the printed page and cleaned; old type leaves the occasional error.