Free banking, it appears, has gained the day in Manchooria.
Mr. Meadows, our Consul at Newchang, found that the mer- chants, bankers, and tradesmen there were in the habit of issuing notes payable on demand, printed on paper with orna- mental borders, and varying in value from 2 to 50 " teaous," that is from about a shilling to fifty. The issuers have, moreover, taken a step in advance of our own bankers,-for- they have dis- covered a method of avoiding a run on- any particular bank. " Although the notes profess to be payable on presentation, in fact each issuer is by custom bound to give in exchange. only one-fifth in copper alley cash,' the balance in notes of other issuing houses, to which the holder must then repair to repeat the process ; so that when a man changes a :note, say for 50 teaous, he--has usually to visit about six or eight issuing houses in succession, some of which may be a. mile distant, from• each other." The banks in fact insure each other,, a , perfection of arrangement at which- we have not yet arrived. Are we quite entitled to shoot Chinamen down at discretion on the ground of superior civilization?
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