foreign banks here do not accept northern notes in such transactions, Apart from that the restrictions laid down by the two banks concern ed have been so strict that no large quantities of "Tientsin notes could ave been exchanged in favour of any organized group, it was asserted. 'A.man could exchange only $10 Tien tsin notes and so even a big organized group of people could only have a few thousand Tientsin dollars exchanged.
It was believed that most of the. persons forming the queues during the past few days are poor people who possessed afew odd Tientsin otes and assistants of small exchange shops who are making a lucrative did not care to go to the banks. A person who possessed a $10 Tientsin note might sell the notes to the exchange shop for only $9 or less. A shop might accept many such notes and send several assistants. to. the banks to have them exchanged realiz~ Ing a profit for $1 or more for each $10 Tientsin note they bought, it was stated.
Utter confusion reigned in the gold market here yesterday when the most violent changes in prices ever known in its history occurred. There was great confusion in the same market fon Thursday when northern merchants accelerated their buying activities to such an extent that the price for the 10-ounce bar once broke the $4000 mark which was never quoted here before. Yesterday morn-Ing, the price once again increased to $4800 but early in the afternoon a downward trend was suddenly followed. It went up again but the lat afternoon quotation was $3,500 i Gicating that buying activities were Aiscouraged for some reason or other.
Prices of Chinese Government bonds also dropped violently yester-Gay morning, "registering decreases ranging from' $1.70 to $380 but about noon they also suddenly fol lowed an upward trend. Their prices then showed an increase of about $1.
The Chinese press and oficial com: ments as a whole urged people not to worry about the situation assert ing that it was a temporary phenomenon which did not affect the Chiese dollar as a national currency. Bonafide merchants were said to be Still able to obtain foreign exchange at the official rate quoted much higher than the rate quoted in the "black" foreign exchange market. To restrict foreign exchange transactions in Shanghai was to the advantage of the country at war, it was explained.
Despite all these comments which indicate that the present situation would benefit China and her people
Text read from the printed page and cleaned; old type leaves the occasional error.