Imperial Chinese Government Five per cent reorganisation gold loan of 1913 for £ 25,000,000 sterling ...

China Government bond 873503 from 1913, Blue-Red. £100 5% Reorganization Gold Loan Bond, with 43 uncancelled coupons, - Issued by Deutsch-Asiatische Bank. Text is in English, German, French, and Russian.
Printed by Waterlow & Sons, extremely fine and extremely rare.
Verso conditions and amortisation table.

A bond is a document of title for a loan. Bonds are issued, not only by businesses, but also by national, state or city governments, or other public bodies, or sometimes by individuals. Bonds are a loan to the company or other body. They are normally repayable within a stated period of time. Bonds earn interest at a fixed rate, which must usually be paid by the undertaking regardless of its financial results. A bondholder is a creditor of the undertaking.



Purpose of the Gold Reorganization Loan
The purpose of the loan was to enable the new government of the Republic of China to meet financial liabilities inherited from the previous Chinese Imperial Government, for the reorganization of government institutions and to meet the administrative costs.

As an interesting footnote to this loan, Mr. M. E. Weatherall, who was a senior official of the Chinese Maritime Customs Service in 1921 was quoted in the publication “Wayfoong” as making the following observation.

“I believe that I am correct in saying that the greater part, if not all of the reorganization loan of 1913 was accounted for by statements and vouchers, but in actual fact very little of it was ever applied to the purposes for which it was lent. It disappeared mysteriously and nobody knows where it has gone.”

The Reorgansation Gold Loan of 1913 was for the capital sum of £25,000,000. The loan was authorised by Presidential Order of 22nd April, 1913 officially communicated by the Wai Chiao Pu to the Ministers in Peking of Great Britain, Germany, France, Russia, and Japan. (The Wai Chiao Pu was the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the government of the Republic of China).

The newly appointed President of the Republic of China, Yuan Shih Kai initially approached Britain, France, Germany, and United States of America seeking a substantial loan to assist the fledgling government of the Republic of China. Later this group was expanded to include Japan and Russia, but eventually the U.S. withdrew from participation, leaving five countries which agreed to assist the Chinese Government with financial aid.

The principal financial institutions which participated in the loan arrangements were the Hongkong & Shanghai Banking Corporation, Deuthsch-Asiatiche Bank, Banque de l’Indo Chine, and Russian Asiatic Bank.

The Yokohama Specie Bank participated on behalf of Japan, but did not issue separate bonds, countersigned by the bank. Arrangements were made as to convertibility into Japnanese Yen of the bearer bonds issued to by other four issuing banks. The banks all received 6% commission for handling this loan and the capital amounts allocated to each bank together with bonds issued are detailed in the data below:
Hongkong & Shanghai Banking Corp. £7,416,000
Deutsch-Asicatiche Bank £6,000,000
Banque de l”Indo-Chine £7,416,660
Russian Asiatic Bank £2,777,780
Russian Asiatic Bank (Belgium) £1,388,880

Source : “Historic Foreign Bonds of China by John M. Thomson (2012).

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