The Express.
London, England, 1862-03-25 00:00:00

THE NEW TURKISH LOAN.

The Turkish Loan has evidently been framed with
extreme care, even to its minutest details. The
amount required is 5,440,0001. sterling, which is re-
granted by Six per Cent. Bonds amounting to
000,0001., at 68 per cent. The interest dates from
t e lat Jan. Wt. The loan is to be redeemed in the
short space of 231 years, the sinking fund being as
mach as 2 per oent, per annum. The bonds; will be
drawn by lot half-yearly, and paid off at 100. It
is a distinctive and very valuable feature of this
loan that, at the express request of the Sultan,
Lard Hobart has been appointed as a special com-
missioner by the British government to mast
in the due application of the proceeds of
the loan to their legitimate objects, namely, the
consolidation of the floating debt, and the extinc-
tion of the depreciated paper money. All the
revenues of the Ottoman empire are of course liable
for the loan, but those specially hypothecated to it
are derived from tobacco, salt, stamps, and lioenses,
which are estimated to produce 1,885,220/. a year,
the annual charge'of the loan being only 640,0001.
A permanent commission, composed half of nomi-
nees of the agents of the loan, will sit at Constanti-
nople, whose special province it will be to receive
from the sources assigned and transmit to the Bank
of England the requisite funds. Five per cent, is
to be paid on application ; 16 on allotment ; 10 on
May 15 ; 10 on July 1 ; 10 on September 1; 10
on November 1 ; and the balance of 8 per
cent. on the let January, 1883 ; but as divi-
dend accrues on the whole amount of the
bonds as from the Ist January last, the
holders will receive two full half-yearly divi-
dends of 3 per cent. each (viz., 3 per oeut. on the
Ist July next, and 3 per cent. on the Ist January,
1863) before the payment of the instalment' will be
completed. On payments in advance 6 per cent.
discount will be allowed. The agents of the loan
are the Ottoman Bank and Messrs. C. Deem:
and Co. The brokers are Messrs. J. Hutchinson
and Sons, and Mr. George E. Seymour. Mr.
Seymeur's able co-operation in the Morocco Loan,
it is well known, materially contributed to its great
success, and it is also known that he has taken
an activepart in placing the present transaction in
the satisfactory and bond fide form in which it
comes before the public.
Attached to the loan prospectus is a copy of a
letter from Earl Russell to Mr. Brucet M.P.,
chairman of the Ottoman Bank, expressing the
consent of her Majesty's government to send Lord
Hobart to Constantinople for six months to assist
in the due application of the money.
This loan, it will be seen, presents many pecu-
liar features, the most valuable of which are the
00-operation of her Majesty's government, and the
special hypothecation of revenues estimated to
reld nearly three times the sum required for the
interest and sinking fund. While the security is thus
satisfactory, the advantages to the subscriber are
of a magnitude rarely met with. In the first place,
there is a sinking fund of 2 per cent. per annum,
being double the amount appropriated to the loans
of 1854 and 1858. Repayment of the loan at 100
per cent., or 32 per cent, above the price of issue,
will therefore be more speedily attained in this
instance. In the next plain, reckoning the divi-
dend from the let January last, and the allowance
of 6 per cent. discount on payments in advance,
there is a bonus of about 4 per cent., so that the
price of issue is practically reduced to 64 for a six
per cent. stock, or 8 per cent below the
present price of the loan of 1858. The
return to a permanent holder, including tbe con-
tingency of redemption at par, is equal to fully 11
per cent. per annum. But while the new loan is
thus brought out at a price which, having
to the ordinary rate of interest in this mar et,
places it in a remarkably tempting position in the
list of foreign investments, the return yyielded by
it is very moderate regarded from the Turloah point
of view. No sacrifice is imposed on the Ottoman
government, which has been socistomed to pay far
higher rates, and which in fact will effect a very
important economy by raising this money in the
London market on the terms mentioned. By
an annual outlay of 640,0001. (including the sink-
ing fund of the loan) the state will save, accord-
ing to the public admission of the Grand Vizier,
between two and three millions sterling a year, irre-
spective of the immense advantage which will
accrue to the foreign trade of the Empire by
obviating the hitherto enormous fluctuations in the
exchanges. It is further satisfactory to remark
that, the present loan being on commission, Turkey
will have the full benefit of the entire sum, minus
only a commission of 2or 2/1 per cent. In every
point, therefore, the arrangements adopted appear
to be of an unusually well-framed and bond fide
character.