The Sun.
London, England, 1847-04-07 00:00:00

CHINESE BANKING.

- _
Three per cent. per month, or thirty-six per cent.
per annum, is the limited rate (of interest), and what-
ever the period upon which interest is due at the day
of repayment,. no more can be received or demanded
than the original susli.leat; and the lawful interest
thereon, to an amount . sot exceeding the prineipal.
Debtors not fulfilling their engagements are punished
by blows, or by banishment to a given extent, ac-
cording to the amount of the debts; the blows to be
repeated from month to month. Bills of exchange
and promissory notes circulate. In lieu of endorsing
the original note in the manner customary in Europe,
they attach a piece of paper to it, which they assign
the reason why it has been handed over to another
person instead of money ; at maturity, the holder does
not apply for payment to the drawer, but to him from
whom he has received the bill ; and thus each endor-
ser proceeds, until at last it reaches the drawer ; or
the three or four persons whose names are on the en-
dorsement, including the actual holder of the bill, call
together on the drawer for payment ; this latter mode
is considered the most simple and effectual. On
placing funds in a bank, the depositor is furnished
with a pass book, and whenever he draws for money,
he sends his book to the bank, where the sum paid is
entered in the same. It appears that when the pass-
book is lost, there is a great difficulty in recovering
the money which has not been drawn for.—Montgo-
mery Martin's China.

RELIGIOUS FANATICISM AT READING.--Some ex-
citement has been occasioned in this town of late by a
series of prophetic announcements by a section of
religionists---called by some the " Latter Day Saints,"
but whose tenets are very peculiar and very difficult to
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powers had many credulous followers, but the circum-
stance had given rise to very much observation, owing
to a tradesman doing an extensive business, and living in
one of the greatest thoroughfares of the town, having
for months past been a convert to these sentiments, and
that such seems to have been the strong convictions of
his own mind of the veracity of the announcement that
his shop window has abounded with pamphlets on the
subject, and he has been known to have engaged himself
in promulgating these notions amongst the half-educated
and easily beguiled inhabitants of rural districts. As
the day approached the interest increased amongst some
people, and towards the evening for the prophesied
" mighty roar," the " faithless" gathered near his shop
in numbers rather too thick to be pleasant, and with the
view to prevent the demolition of his windows, as well as
"to save his bacon," he found it necessary to put up the
shutters, and a number of policemen were kept parading
the street for several hours to preserve order. Various
were the rumours of what this deluded and much-to-be-
pitied individual proposed doing, and we will mention
only one as showing the extravagances of mind of
religious fanatics. It was reported that he intended to
dress himself in white and proceed to a high hill about a
mile or two from the town to meet the Saviour.
COAL IN SOUTH AFRICA.—The attention of the
Colonial Government has been directed to the coal fields
in the colony of the Cape of Good Hope. The beds of
coal which were discovered some years since at Coles-
berg, are not available, owing to their distance from sea-
coast ; but recent information goes to show that the
coal-fields of the new settlement at Port Natal promise
to be the means by which steam navigation is to be ex-
tended in the Southern Hemisphere. The following
official notice, issued from the Colonial-office at Natal
will direct the attention of the colonists to the value of
this mineral product :—"lnquiries having been addressed
to this office by parties interested in steam navigation,
relative to the quantity and price of native coal to be
obtained at Port Natal, his Honour the Lieutenant-
Governor requests that landed proprietors who may have
found coal, of quality equal to that brought to this
market from the northward, in situations more favour-
able for conveyance to the port, will forward specimens
of the coal to this office. The Lieutenant-Governor
will also be glad to receive information upon this subject
from any one disposed to furnish it.
" By command of his Honour the Lieutenant-Governor,
(Signed) '6 D. MOODIE,
Secretary to Government."
The masons employed at the Sunderland Pier have
given notice to their masters for an advance of wages
from 275. to 30s. a week, intimating that unless this de-
mand be complied with they will kayo their work. It
is only three weeks since their wages were advanced
from 24a. to 275. a week.
The demand appears unreason-
able.—Newcasile Paper.
NEW SOUTH WALES.—Extract of a letter from
Sydney, dated 7th November, 1846 :—" Ido not exag-
gerate when I say, that a recurrence to transportation
here will effect inestimable benefit to all classes, and
produce in the colony a state of propriety unexampled
in its previous history. As you might expect, we have
some dissentients in the community, one party turning
up their eyes at it for the sake of consistency, and an-
other from a desire not to perpetuate their status in quo,
which they hoped in a few years might he merged in the
influx of free people, and old distinctions forgotten. The
matter is, however, of vital importance ; and if we fail
in getting converts direct the agitation of this measure
will, at all events, stimulate emigration, and either we
must have shortly, as labour is every day growing scarce
and dearer."
T irE ISLAND or Lonos.—The island at which the
American forces aro concentrating, preparatory to a
descent upon Alvarado and Vera Cruz, is thus described
by a correspondent of the Philadelphia North American,
who writes from Lobos under date of March 7 The
island of Lobos is a lovely little spot, formed entirely of
coral, about two miles in circumference, twelve miles
from the Mexican shore, about sixty miles from Tam-
pico, and some 130 from Vera Cruz. It is covered (or
was before we landed) with a variety of trees and shrubs,
the highest of the former perhaps twenty-fire feet high,
and these are so thickly covered with vines that one can
hardly get through them. There is hardly a tree, or
shrub, or plant growing here I have ever seen before.
Banyan trees, spreading over large spaces of ground,
their limbs forming props as they pierce into the earth
and take root, while the tops, thickly thatched with
evergreen vines, form most beautiful arbours. Lemon,
lime, fig, palm, cane, and a hundred other species of
wood, are growing with all the freshness and beauty of
the Indies. There is plenty of water to be had by
digging four to six feet. It is brackish and sweet, but
we are getting used to it, and like it nearly as well as
ship water. Fish and sea fowl we have in profusion.
With these we have a delightful sea air, that fourteen
hours out of the twenty-four makes the place pleasant.
I imagine, to convince you who read
great coal fires, that we are literally
roasting during a portion of the day. The sun is so hot
that our faces and arms are blistered if exposed but a
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few minutes. Today, by Fahrenheit, hi the shade, I
scored 92 degress. The universal remark among the
volunteers is, if this is winter what will summer be ?
But withal our regiment is getting along remarkably
well. There are very few sick, and they are from the
country—none dangerous."
COAST DEFENCES OF SCOTLAND.—The annexed
return embraces a list of the various guns mounted on
the different castles on the coast of Scotland and the
estuaries :—Edinburgh Castle—nine 24-pounders, six
18-pounders, nine 12-pounders, seven 6-pounders, and
two 8-inch mortars ; total, 33. Stirling Castle—six 12-
pounders, eleven 9-pounders, and twelve 6-pounders ;
total, 29. Dumbarton Castle—three 18-pounders, nine
12-pounders, ono 9-pounder, and four 6-pounders ; total,
17. Leith Fort—fire 24-pounders, four 18-pounders,
and one 10 inch mortar ; total, 10. Fort George—seven
21-pounders, eight 18-pounders, eight 12-pounders, two
9-pounders, and two 13-inch mortars ; total, 27.
Fort Charlotte—eight 18 pounders, and four 32-pounder
carronades; total, 12. Fort William—twelve 12-pounders.
Rothsay Castle (Isle of Bute)—five 18-pounders.
Grand total for Scotland, 145 guns. It will be observed
from the above return that, with the exception of a few
guns, mortars, and carronades, at Leith Fort, Edinburgh
Castle, Fort George, and Fort Charlotte, the whole of
' the guns in Scotland are of exceedingly light calibre,
and almost unfit for the improved state of modern war-
' fare. The attention of the authorities has not yet, we
understand, been drawn to the coast defences of Scots
land, but a total revision is likely to take place shortly
in the character of this armament, or at least, a material
, increase in the number of guns of heavy calibre.