LESSON IN CHARITY.

Wairarapa Age, Volume XXV, Issue 10713, 2 October 1913, Page 7

LESSON IN CHARITY.

(Washington Herald.) The Mont de : Piete, the great municipal pawnshop In Paris,* is the vival of an old bank conducted by a religious order established to fight usury. This benevolent enterprise was discontinued, to be started afresh tinder the direction of the Government in 180r, when Napoleon was Hear the height of his glory. The profits go to the State and to charity, to the Public Aid Department and to the hospitals of Paris. These charities benefit to the extent of "[about 70,000 dollars a year. The storage facilities of the Mont de Piete are admirable. The Frenchman may pawn his feather bed. When it comes back to him, it, as well as the mattresses, blankets and all bed furnishings, has been thoroughly cleaned and disinfected. The rate of interest on loans is small and it encourages, by all possible means, the redemption of the goods on which money has been advanced. As the Mont def Piete. advances money only on conservative valuation, as a rule to the value of two-thirds of the article pawned, there is generally a surplus to go to the pawner if the pledge is sold. Municipal pawnshops in Berlin charge 12 per cent, in Brussels 7 per cent, in Madrid 6 per cent. In London, for small loans the pawnshop rate is from 400 to 1000 per cent per annum.