The Sun.
London, England, 1863-10-06 00:00:00

THE LAND MORTGAGE BANK cf INDIA
(CREDIT FONCIER INDIEN), Limited.
Capital, £2,000,P0', in mom Shares of £2O each. Payment
on allotrnont, pPr Share.

Dtur.e'rou:3.
Chairman S. LAING, Esq , life Finance Minister of India.
Colonel Balfour, C. 8., late Chief of Military Finance Depart-

.
ment of India.
H. L. IlischoMheim, Esq. (ressrs. Bisehoffseheim and Gold-
sehmidt).
lion. W. S. Fitzwilliam, Member of the Supreme Legislative

Council of India.
Sir John P. Grant, K.C. P.., late Lieut.-Governor of Bengal.
P. Northall Laurie, Esq.. Governor of Union Bank of London.
J. T. Mackenzie, Esq., Deputy Chairman of Eastern Bengal
Railway.
W. Mackinnon. Esq. '(Mackinnon, Mackenzie, and Co.. Cal-
cutta), Director of British Indiu titeam Navigation Com-
pany.
IT. Nelson, Esq. (Messrs. Crawford, Colvin. and Co.), London.
Pinard, do Comptoir d'Esomipte,
Foncier Colonial. Paris, et du Credit
A. M. Worms, Esq. (Messrs. G-. and A. Worms), London.

AGENTS IN INDIA.
Calcutta—Messrs. Colvin. Cowie, and Co.
Bombay—Messrs. Ilemingtoa and Co.
Madras —Messrs. Parry and Co.
AGENTS TOR. TIM COSTIVE
The General Credit and Finance Company of London
(Limited'.
BANKERS.
The Union Bank of Louden.
SOLICITORS.
Messrs. Freshtleids and Newman.
srenEpAny (pro tern.) —Mr. Charles Grant,
Temporary Offices-60, Lombard-street.
The system of Land Credit, or "Credit Foncier," has now
been established in many of the chief countries of Europe,
with the uniform result of large profit to the Companies ea-
gaged in it, and great benefit to the holders of land. The
principle of ad these Associations is the same, viz., the inter-
vention of a Company whose large subscribed Capital, and
consequent credit, enable it t.) borrow money to the best ad-
vantage, as an intermediary between individual lenders who
seek investments on mortg ,g,e, and borrowers who seek for
loans.
Thus, the French Credit Fonder has a large Share Capital,
of which only half is paid up, and is authorised by its
statutes to issue its own Bonds against an equal amount lent
on mortgage, with a Sinking Fund for redemption, on first-
class landed security. The security to the Bondholder, under
these circumstances, is ample, represented as it is by the
whole unpaid-up capital of the Company, and all its invest-
ments and assets, while the profit to the Shareholders, being
the profit on the employment of a. large capital distributed in
dividend over a small paid-up capital, is so great, that with
£lO paid up the £2O shares of the French Credit Fonder
stand at a market value of upwards of £5O.
The present Company is formed in the belief that, on the
one hand, it will be very profitable to the Shareholders, and,
on the other, most beneficial to India. It is obvious that our
Indian territories present an unrivalled field for a Company
of this description. Land there is rising in value with a ra-
pidity quite unexamplei, 'and the fixing of tenures, the im-
provement of laws, and the opening of communications, are
fast creating an ease and certainty in dealing with it equal to
those enjoyed in any country of Europe. At the same time
capital is scarce, and the rate of interest extravagantly high,
as compared with any European standard.
In Bengal, where, in the first instance, the operations of
the Company will be principally directed, laid is held upon
it Zemindary tenure, which may be described as conferring-
the fee-simple of the land in perpetuity, held direct from the
Crown, on the condition of paying a fixed annual gait rent,
which is always moderate, in comparison with the value of
the estates. An accurate and simple system of registration
precludes doubt and dispute concerning the title to estates,
and the first mortgage on the register takes precedence of all
other claims. The principle of a permanent settlement has
been adopted by the Government, and will doubtless be
shortly extended to the other provinces of India.
The land included in the Lower Bengal system is estimated
at a value of more than one hundred millions sterling, and
by the establishment of railways, the operation of irrigation
works, and the general extension of Indian trade and in-
dustry, it will be doubled and trebled within a moderate
number of year,. Of these estates a very large proportion
are at present under advances from local money-lenders, at
a rate of 12 per cent. interest, besides incidental bonuses,
and upon other conditions, that are alike unfavourable to
their owners and to the community at large.
With prudent management the results of an Indian Credit
Foncier can hardly fail to be even more successful than in
France, considering the wide margin between the rates of in-
terest at which money can be borrowed in England and lent
in India.

The field for operations in India is practically unlimited,
and in no country of the world are all the elements of national
prosperity, including the value of land, in a state of such
rapid development. The revenue of the State has risen in
ten years from £28,5C0,000 to £45,125,0.0 a-year : and the
aggregate Import and Export Tr,. de during the same period
has more than doubled, and last y, ar reached the enormous
total of £100,000,000, including bullion. During the same
period £GO,COO,OOO of English capital has been invested m
railways in India, which are now approaching completion,
and will greatly accelerate the march of prosperity.
The benefit to India of obtaining capital on landed security
on reasonable terms, and emancipating the native landed
proprietors from an exclusive dependence on native money-
lenders, will be incalculable ; ana this benefit will be speci-
ally felt at a time when the prosperity of the country, the
completion of roads and railways, the sale of waste lands,
the extension of the permanent settlement, the introduction
of an improved currency, and, generally, the adoption of a
wise and liberal system of Government, are giving every-
where a rapid impulse to improvement.

OBJECTS,

The Company will be prepared to grant Loans on land,
ei.her for fixed periods, or upon terms that will extinguish
the debt during the currency of the mortgage, by the pay-
ment or an annual instalment on account of the principal, in
addition to the annual interest, thus conferring on the Dor-
rowery the benefit of an eventual liquidation of their debts.