The Sun.
London, England, 1862-10-30 00:00:00

7HE MANCHESTER BANK MANAGER.

The following additional details of this defaulter
are supplied by the Manchester Guardian :—ln
the months of January and February, 1860, the
affairs of the City Savings-bank, as Mr. Jonah
Andrew then styled his establishment, were dis-
cussed at some length in the columns of the Guardian.
No fewer than 16 letters from various correspondents
were published, nearly all of which expressed sus-
picion that the bank was not what it professed to
be, and some contained details of usurious practices
perfectly astounding. The discussion was com-
menced by a correspondent who objected to the title
"savings"-bank, as calculated. to mislead the
public, by conveying the idea that deposits in it were
placed for security in the hands of Government. Mr.
Jonah Andrew, the manager, in a flippant letter,
contended that the title was general, and might be
justly assumed by any bank intended to receive sav-
ings. A second correspondent quoted from the pro-
spectus of the bank the statement that it offered
interest at 5 per cent., and remarked upon the
fact that no names of directors and treasurers of the
bank had been published. Andrew subsequently
wrote " that the deposits of the City Savings-bank
are invested under the direction of upwards of 70
gentlemen of Manchester and district, whose names
I am not at liberty to publish in a newspaper." The
names never were published; and in the bank re-
turns which are advertised annually, according to
Act of Parliament, of this bank, the following state-
ment is made :—" Name of firm, Jonah Andrew ;
person of whom the company consists,Jonah Andrew,
Medlock Vale, Ashton-under-Lyne, Lancashire,
banker; name of place where the business is carried
on, Manchester, Lancashire." The names of the
modest 70 who knew how to invest money so as to
promise investors 5 per cent. interest were not an
absolute secret, for " Septimus" wrote to the Guar-
dian, from Staleybridge, that " the leading men in
connection with these classes [the loan classes ad-
joined to the bank] are almost all of them leaders
of a popular religious denomination." The Guardian
states that at the time it exposed several instances
of the bank's usurious dealing by the intervention
of these classes, and it now adds another saying
that these details are only types of hundreds of si-
milar cases. " A young man wished to borrow
£25. He received from Andrew £lO 3s. 6d., and
made himself responsible for £25, the remainder
above what he received being swallowed up by the
alleged cost of a policy of insurance and other ex-
penses. In the repayment of this loan of £lO 3s. 6d.
and interest, Andrew received, in little more than
two years, £2B ; and he had demanded £4l, but
consented to forego the additional £l3 rather than
the case should come before one of the law courts,
as the borrower's surety had put the matter in the
hands of a solicitor. In another case, upon a loan
of £2O, £l7 was repaid, when the borrower's surety
was served with a writ for £36 for unpaid balance
and interest. The third case was narrated by the
employer of a young man who wished to borrow
£lOO. He received from Andrew, at various times,
£45; his sureties repaid £B2 149., and then learnt
that there was still upwards of £4O owing. The
ease which has most recently come to our
knowledge is one in which a nominal loan of
£lO was effected, for which £7 15s. was received.
The borrower repaid £8 by instalments, and was
then informed that the debt still owing was £l5.
We have no doubt, we repeat, that when all the
affairs of this so-called bank are disclosed many
similar instances of usurious dealing will be re-
vealed." A curious incident is related of the ap-
prehension of Andrew. When in the cab on his
way to the station, he handed his brother, who was
allowed to accompany him, a gold watch, and the
brother was cautioned by the police not to part with
it. The only articles found on him when searched
at the station were a shilling and a "Life of Jesus,"
and he begged that the latter might not be taken
from him, as it was his only comfort.

THE 7URKISH GOVERNMENT AND 7HE
CUM URE OF COTTON.

The following papers have been forwarded to us for pub-
lication :

" To His Excellency Musurus Bey, Ambassador to his
Imperial Majesty the Sultan.

" Monsieur l'Ambassadeur,—His Imperial Majesty the
Sultan, our august master, desirous to favour the culture of
cotton in his empire, and to restore to it that importance
which it formerly possessed, has issued, with this view,
several ordinances, of which you will find subjoined a printed
recapitulation, and for the execution of which I now claim
your enlightened concurrence.

"I do not doubt, Mensieur I'Ambassadeur, that you will
appreciate, without the necessity of my developing them at
length, the happy consequences that may arise from the
measures in question, if they are applied with the required
zeal and intelligence.

" The substitution of a fixed impost per denum for the
dime is destined, for example, to cause to disappear one of
the greatest obstacles hitherto encountered in the propa-
gation of good species of cotton plants. In effect the fruits
of the cotton plant do not all ripen at the same epdth.
It is desirable that every day, during a period more or
less prolonged, attentive to the progress of the vegetation,
the grower should withdraw the cotton from the capsules
which contain it as they naturally open. If he is obliged to
gather the capsules before their complete maturity he finds
it very troublesome to extract the cotton from them after-
wards. If he should, on the contrary, defer gathering them,
the cotton will fall to the ground and be deteriorated; but
the receiver of the dime, on the other hand, cannot abstain
from the exercise of his right to suit the convenience of the
cultivators without compromising his interests ; for either
he must abandon to the contributor the care of performing
his part in gathering the harvest, which will expose it to be
frustrated, or he will be forced to have, so to speak, a dwel-
ling in every field, which would occasion him considerable
expense. The substitution of an impost per denum instead
of the dime will be the only remedy for these grave incon-
veniences, Unfortunately this desirable substitution is not
to be made everywhere, because there are still many pro -
vinces where the dimes are farmed; but it will be applied
from this year in the province of Adana as well as in a part
of that of Aidin, and in the meanwhile it can be extended
to the other portions of the empire, and a severe watch
will be kept in order to ameliorate as much as possible the
disagreeable effects arising from the continuance of the
dime there.

" The exemption from all imposts during five years
upon uncultivated lands which may be devoted to cotton
culture cannot fail to bring about an extension of that cul •
ture, for their exist in Turkey vast spaces which are per-
fectly applicable thereto, and which, in order to furnish
their contingent to the general production need only arms
and capital. The Imperial Government will receive with
eagerness demands for concessions of lands which may be
addressed to it by serious undertakers conformably to the
laws of the empire.
" In limiting to the duty formerly received that which
cotton gathered in future will bear on exportation the Go-
vernment offers for the production of cotton of superior
quality, a premium of encouragement which will be, with-
out doubt, the more appreciated by the cultivators, as the
price of cotton varies according to quality in a very great
proportion.
" The improvement of the roads is one of those measures
the:immense utility of which needs no discussion. The
Imperial Government has been occupied for a long time
with this subject, and it has recently granted a law for
the impressment of local manual labour which will render
the realisation thereof possible without bearing on the
public treasury.

" Article 3, which exempts from all entrance duty in-
struments and machines required for the culture of cotton,
will, without doubt, as a consequence bring into Turkey
perfect instruments and machines, the want of which may
be placed among the number of the causes which prevented
up to the present time agriculture in general from progress-
ing.

" Competition in the products of industry has borne ex-
cellent fruit in all countries where it bas been tried, and
there is reason to hope that it will be the same in Turkey.

" In fine, by giving to the country instruments and ma-
chines which will serve as models to it, and by distributing
gratuitously choice seeds and the practical instructions
necessary for the successful cultivation, the Imperial Go-
vernment proposes not only to indicate, but also to open,
at its own expense, the path of progress on which it would
desire cultivators to enter.
"You see, Monsieur l'Ambassadeur, how much the
measures on which I have just dwelt may be productive o
happy results. I believe it is important, above all, to give
them the greatest possible publicity, and I consequently
pray you to communicate them to the journals, to asso-
ciations, and to eminent persons interested in England, the
country where there is the greatest consumption of cotton
of anywhere in the world.
" Your excellency will have afterwards to occupryour
your-
self with the means of facilitating to the Imperial
ed on it by
Govern-
ment the execution of the engagements
Article 3. It will be necessary for you thereforeimpos to inquire
of the most competent persona concerning-1. What Matrit-

manta and machines can be procured proper for the cultiva-
tion of cotton which from their simplicity will be best adapted
to the manners and habits of the Ottoman populations, and
to the economical condition in which they live; 2. What
species of cotton plants it would be most desirable to intro-
duce into the empire, and the possibility of procuring the
seeds of such plants, &c.
" As soon as you will have collected information on these
divers points you will please to transmit them to me, taking
care to indicate to me the approximate expense of the pur-
chase of the objects which you believe you ought to recom-
mend for my choice.

" I pray you also to collect information concerning trea-
tises on the cultivation applicable to the cotton plant, of
which the translation into the vulgar tongue of the Turks
would be useful, and to send me copies as soon as possible.
It will not es3ape your notice that these treatises, in order
to attain the object which the Government will have in
view in distributing them throughout the country, must be
precise and essentially practical.
"Please to accept, Monsieur I'Ambassadeur, the assur-
ance of my high consideration.

" The Minister of Commerce and Public Works,
(Signed) " E. SAFVET.
" Constantinople, Sept. 26, 1862."

" Notification explaining the Dispositions approved by his
Imperial Majesty the Sultan relative to the Cultivation

of Cotton.

" Cotton is one of the productions of the earth the most
useful and the most remunerative. Several foreign coun-
tries have been considerably enriched by the production of
this material on a grand scale. Formerly the cultivation of
cotton flourished in many localities of the Ottoman Empire,
and the inhabitants derived the greatest benefits from it ;
but in these latter times, in consequence of different causes
which it would be idle to search into, this cultivation has
unfortunately fallen into decadence. The enlightened and
beneficent efforts for the good of all classes of his subjects
which animate our august Sovereign induce him constantly
to study sad adopt the best and most efficacious means of
making them return to their ancient state of opulence and
riches. He has, therefore, accorded his Imperial approba-
tion to the following dispositions relative to the cultivation
of cotton, which form part of the measures decreed with
the object of advancing, with the help of God, the organi-
sation and the prosperity of his country.

"1. In conformity with the dispositions of the law upon
lands ceded by the state by means of titles (tapon),
those who will open up uncultivated and deserted lands and
convert them into arable fields shall receive them gra-
tuitously and without charge, and new titles will be
delivered to them on the sole condition of paying three
piastres for stamp duty. Moreover, the produce of those
lands shall be exempted from the payment of the dime for
one year, or in case the land shall be stony for two years;
and if among the lands thus given up for culture, and on
which the said concessioner has cultivated cotton, the ex-
emption of the dime, or of the payment required instead
of the dime, will be extended to five years. The space of
time during which persons will be admitted to avail them-
selves of Chia exemption is ten years, to be reckoned from
the publication of the present notice.
"2. During the said space of ten years the tariff o
customs for cotton shall not undergo any change or varia- "
tion, and the duties will be collected at a uniform rate for
all kinds of cotton, whatever may be their quality or com-
mercial value. -

"3. In order that the cotton produced may be trans•
ported to the seaports, the roads in the districts where
cotton is grown shall, in case of need, be repaired and put in
a good state, in compliance with the regulation already
published for this purpose. The instruments and machines
imported from Europe, and which the inhabitants may
require for the cultivation of cotton, cleaning and separa-
ting the seeds, &c., shall be exempt from all customs duties.
The state will cause to be brought, as its own cost, from
America to serve as samples, a sufficient number of those
instruments and machines, as well as cotton seeds of the
best quality and choicest kinds, and the cultivators will
be taught to make use of them. Instructions and trea-
tises will be drawn up on the manner of cultivating cot-
ton easily, and how to augment its production, and these
will be sent into all the localities where that product is cul-
tivated.

"4. in the cities and towns of those localities an exhibi-
tion will be made every year of the samples of cotton
gathered in the environs, and the best species produced
will receive prizes for encouragement.
"5. The administration proposes to make in future
every effort to give the greatest facilities possible for the
cultivation of cotton, and to cause that branch of industry
to progress.

" The preceding articles containing the promise of the Go-
vernment to facilitate and aid with all its power so impor-
tant a culture, it now becomes the duty of the subjects of
the empire who inhabit localities in which the soil and cli-
mate are favourable to the production of cotton to neglect
no means of deriving all the advantages possible from the
gracious disposition of our august Sovereign."