ent.; on insurance of ships and
cargoes, owing to the risk from storms and pirates, from 20 to 30 per
cent.; on pawnbrokers' loans, 2 per cent. per month, or 20 per cent.
per annum. Five days' grace is allowed on pledges; and if goods be not
redeemed within three years, they are made over to the old clothes'
shops at a settled premium of 20 per cent. on the amount lent on them.
Pawnbrokers' establishments are numerous, and are frequented by all
classes, who pawn without scruple anything they may possess. The
banks, we are informed, 'keep up an intimate connection with the
pawnbrokers, who make and receive all their payments in notes for
copper cash, and will not take sycee, dollars, or dollar-notes--the
former, lest they should prove counterfeit, and the latter, on account
of the fluctuating value. They are very particular in passing the
bank-notes, and will accept only those of the large banks. A notice is
hung up in each shop, specifying what notes pass current with them;
and when the people go to redeem the articles they have pledged, as
they can present only those notes in payment, they have often to
repair previously to the bank where they are issued, to purchase them,
and, being at a premium, the banker thus gains his discount upon them.
Of such importance is this considered, that, without the support of
the pawnbrokers' connection, the business of a banker will always be
limited. Indeed, many of the banks keep pawnbrokers' shops also; and
the chief banker at Fuhchow is known to have opened no less than five
of these establishments. This is on account of the high interest paid
on pawnbrokers' loans.'

THINGS TALKED OF IN LONDON.

_May, 1852._

As May of last year was made memorable by the opening of the Great
Exhibition, so will the present month become famous for the pulling
down of the Crystal Palace. Parliament has decreed it, and there is an
end of the matter. If the people by and by find reason to complain of
the proceeding, they will have no one to blame but themselves;
because, had they spoken out as only a whole nation can speak, the
decision of the legislature would have been on the other side of the
question. We are promised, however, that it shall be re-erected on
some other site, and herein must solace ourselves for disappointment
at the removal, while waiting for the National Exhibition to be opened
at Cork, or that of the Arts and Manufactures of the Indian Empire
promised by the Society