viii. D. 3 Salt: Carriedo y Peredo 181 



the first chattel mortgage is recorded, and not until after 1830 

 does it become customary to make loans on house property and 

 real estate. The rate of interest, which never reached more 

 than 8 per cent, was the factor which at first retarded the com- 

 mon use of land loans, but sound principles of finance eventually 

 prevailed over the attraction of large, but uncertain profits, and 

 the determination "to keep to the land" had a very salutary 

 effect upon the future of the fund, apart from the fact that the 

 city acquired a considerable amount of land and houses, which it 

 rented on a yearly lease,'^ and a half share in a theater.'" The 

 latter was acquired in 1853 as security for a loan to Joaquin 

 Huett or Huit (White?), the son of Moses Huit, a citizen of the 

 United States who was exporting rice from Manila as early as 

 1806. It was sold in 1859 for 7,011 pesos, 44 centavos." 



The interest charged under the new conditions dropped again 

 before the middle of the centuxy. Even for small loans on poor 

 security, it was never more than 7 per cent, while on ordinary 

 house property 6 per cent was the current rate.^* The largest 

 loan was one of 30,000 pesos to Maria Somes, widow of Benjamin 

 Butler, on house property scattered all over the city, valued at 

 56,730 pesos and with an annual rental of 475 pesos. "'^ A loan 

 of 20,000 pesos was also made, in 1861, to Juan Esquivel, and 

 in the following year to Aguirre and Company, the former on 

 buildings on the Escolta, the latter on a sugar refinery worth 

 90,000 pesos. In this case, Matias Menchacatorre, the leading 

 contractor in Manila, gave his personal bond."" 



After 1864, owing to Esquivel's failure, the maximum loan was 

 fixed at 10,000 pesos." As had been ordained by the testator, 

 the fund was kept in a chest, at first in the city hall, casas con- 

 sistoriales, and then in a house of its own in San Miguel. This 

 chest was not opened except in the presence of the members of 



" Such houses were not always easy to dispose of if the city desired 

 to sell. Actas de Manila (1845), 48; (1850), 122; Gaceta de Manila 

 (Feb. 3, Sept. 5, 1875) ; Oficios del Ayuntamiento de Manila (Jan. 23, 1857) ; 

 Cuentas de Carriedo (1857). 



"Cuentas de Carriedo (1850); Actas de Manila (1853). 



" In 1843 Joaquin Huett, then brigadier-general in the Spanish army, 

 led the Spanish troops during the suppression of the revolt of the Filipino 

 fanatic, Apolinario de la Cruz, in the Provinces of Laguna, Tayabas, and 

 Batangas. Montero y Vidal, op. cit. (1895), 3, 37-55. 



"Actas de Manila (1833), 26; (1835), 142-143. 



"Ibid. (1857), 19; Cuentas de Carriedo (1857). 



*= Actas de Manila (1862), 173; Cuentas de Carriedo (1861-1862). 



"Actas de Manila (1864), 27. 



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