MONEY BY THE £100,000.

Taranaki Daily News, Volume LV, Issue 143, 4 November 1912, Page 6

MONEY BY THE £IOO,OOO.

ONE LONDON FIRM BEATS SIX NATIONS. London, September 26. The fact that the contract for a Chinese loan of £10,000,000 has fallen to a private syndicate in London independently of the six Great Powers who were negotiating for a. £60,000,000 loan, has caused as much amusement in the city as surprise. The Powers in question are Great Britain, France, Germany, the United States, Eussia and Japan. The explanation is really very simple. China was very hard up for money. She wanted money immediately for such purposes as the payment of troops. In her urgent need China was confronted with the red-tape methods of the six Great Powers. There was infinite bargaining, and every kind of political complication was introduced. Further, China did not want £60,000,000. The Powers urged this amount. China wanted far less to see her through her immediate difficulties and for many years to come. A private firm in London—Messrs C. Birch, Crisp and Co.—realised this, and, unhampered by red tape, energetically entered into the business.

Probably what sealed the bargain was the fact that they offered China a £500.000 advance on the loan of £10,000,000 which they arranged to negotiate. This money nas already been forwarded to China, £IOO,OOO on Tuesday, £'200,000 on Thursday and £200,000 yesterday; and therefore all talk of any repudiation of the contract with the London firm seems ridiculous.

As a matter of fact, the whole business is a triumph of private enterprise, and Messrs Birch, Crisp and Co. can afford to smile when the six Great Powers wrangle over the muddle.

The price to be paid for the loan is 89. It has been decided to issue half the amount, £ 5,000,000,, at 95, this year, and the remaining half in the course of the next twelve months.