6 JULY 1895, Page 8

The week has been full of conflicting rumours in regard

to the Russo-Chinese loan,—one telegram dOlaring the negotia- tions to have collapsed, another intimating that they are proceeding. On Friday, however, a Renter's telegram from Pekin asserted that "the loan had been signed." Whether this means the loan on the old lines of a Russian guarantee, or merely a loan to be issued under Russian auspices, we have as yet no means of knowing. In any case, the excitement among the financiers to get a share in the privilege of handing- their gold over to China has been one of the most curious. spectacles of recent times.