'Persia and the Persian Question by the Hon. George Nathaniel Curzon, M.P.' [‎479] (538/714)

INSTITUTIONS AND liEFOEMS
479
Shah's portrait on the other, and representing values of from one
to 1,000 tomans 10,000 Persian dinars, or a gold coin of that value. , were issued. One of the first discoveries made by
the bank was that these notes were bought up by wealthy men
and hidden away, a purpose for which they were better adapted,
in bulk and weight, than coined money. This was an unexpected
development of the Persian passion for hoarding. It is as vet too
early to say how the experiment of paper money will eventuate. I
understand that the bank notes of the provincial towns are only
payable on the spot, and are not, interchangeable elsewhere, the
reason being that the bank gets a commission on the transfer. This
may, perhaps, stand in the way of an immediately wide circulation.
At the end of the first year of its existence (September 1890),
the directors of the bank were enabled to present a satisfactory report
First year to tlieir sliarellolders - The net profits realised, after paying
Of exist- all charges and deducting interest paid and due, were nearly
68,000(5., and justified the board in declaring a dividend
equal to eight per cent, on the capital paid up from the date of pay
ment. Branches or agencies of the bank have been opened, in addi
tion to London and Teheran, at Tabriz, liesht, Meshed, Isfahan.
Shiraz, Bushire, Kermanshah, Baghdad, Busrah, and Bombay ; and
the bank has already taken its place as a great national institution,
affecting and absorbing the financial interests of Persia. It is
employed by the Persian Government as a vehicle for the receipts
of revenue and payment of expenditure, and for general finan
cial purposes; and by most foreign governments having relations
with Persia, for the discharge of their necessary business. By the
natives it is already much used as a channel for mercantile trans
actions, and has appreciably benefited commerce by the issue of
advances against merchandise, bills of lading, etc. ' The deposits
made with the bank doubled in the first six months what the New
Oriental Bank Corporation had received in the whole year of its
existence, and have since risen to five and sixfold the amount.
Similarly, the business done in loans to natives upon security was
doubled in the first eight months; and the normal rate of interest
has sunk to less than half of its previous figure. Nor has the
effect been less noticeable upon the fluctuations of the money
market arising from the shifting rates of exchange. In a country
possessing a silver currency there will always be a certain move
ment arising from the rise or fall in price of the precious metal;
but the more violent oscillations due to the speculations of private'