USANCE. 



for bills on Bengal, being confidered the capital of the 

 Euglilh poffeflions in India, the courfe of exchange is nnoflly 

 in ftvour of tiiat place. 



London draws on Bengal in current rupees at 2s. more or 

 lefs ; or in ficca rupees at (ixteen per cent, above current ; 

 alfo on Madras in pagodas at 7/. 6d. more or lefs ; and on 

 Bombay in rupees at 2s. 2il. more or lefs. 



Such bills are moftly at fixty or ninety days fight ; but 

 bills from thofe places on London are generally drawn at 

 iix, nine, or twelve months fight ; in which cafe the ficca 

 rupee is valued at 2s. 6J., the pagoda at 8/., and the Bom- 

 bay rupee at 2s. ^d. ilerling, more or lefs. 



The bank of Bengal has been incorporated by a charter 

 for feven years, granted under the governor-general in coun- 

 cil, by virtue of the authority veiled in him by the aft of 

 the 47 Geo. in. c. 28. 



The capital of the bank is 5,000,000 ficca rupees, that 

 is, 50 lacks. It is divided into 500 equal (hares, 100 of 

 which belong to the government, and the other 400 to 

 individuals. 



The interefl of money in India fluftuates from eight to 

 twelve per cent, per annum, and it has been even higher ; but 

 the bank, which engages not to charge above twelve, has 

 already lowered the rate of interefl, and has in many other 

 refpefts rendered eflential fcrvice to trade and commerce. 



Bills drawn from Rome, or Venice, on Florence, are ac- 

 cepted on Saturday, and paid on that day fortnight ; birt 

 bills from Bologna, accepted on Saturday, mull be paid on 

 the next Saturday following, or be protefted on the fame 

 day. The ufance with other places is the fame as in Leg- 

 horn. Florence has no days of grace ; but a bill mull, on 

 the day it becomes due, be paid or protefted before the de- 

 parture of the poil for the place where it was drawn. 



Bills drawn on Frankfort at one ufance (»'. e. fourteen 

 days after acceptance), alfo bills drawn at four days or 

 more after fight, or after date, have four days grace al- 

 lowed, befides Sundays and holidays. But when a bill has 

 no acceptor, or when it is payable by the drawer himftlf, if 

 not honoured when due, and if the firft indorfer, or the per- 

 fon to whofe order the bill is drawn, refufes to accept it, the 

 bill mull be protefted on the day when it becomes due. 

 Neither are any days of grace allowed on bills a vifta (at 

 fight), or at lefs than four days fight or date. All fuch bills 

 muft be paid within twenty-four hours of the fpccified 

 time. 



The ufance of bills drawn on Geneva from Holland, 

 England, and France, is one month of thirty days ; from 

 Germany and Italy, fifteen days fight. In defedt of pay- 

 ment on the maturity of a bill, it muft be protefted on the 

 fifth day afterwards, exclufive of Sundays. Geneva draws 

 on Amfterdam, Paris, and London, at three months, and 

 fometimcs at two months date ; on Genoa, Leghorn, Milan, 

 and Turin, at eight days fight ; on Lyons, at fight and at 

 the payments. The ufance for bills drawn on Genoa from 

 Amfterdam, Spain, and Sicily, is two months, and from 

 London and Lilbon, three months after date ; from Naples, 

 Ancona, and Trieilc, three weeks fight ; Venice and Rome, 

 fifteen days ; Augfburg and Vienna, fourteen days ; Leg- 

 horn, Milan, and Turin, eight days fight. Thirty days are 

 allowed to the holder of a bill to demand payment ; but no 

 days of grace are allowed to the acceptor. A bill may be 

 prefented on the next diiy after it becomes due, thoui;h it is 

 ufual to delay the proteft till the firft poft day for the place 

 from which the bill came. 



The ufance for bills drawn on Hamburgh from all parts of 

 Germany is fourteen days fight ; when bills are drawn at 

 ufance, the day of acceptance i» reckoned for the firft j but 



when at any other number of days after fight, the day after 

 acceptance is reckoned for the firft. The ufance for bills 

 drawn from England, France, and Holland, is one month ; 

 from Spain, Portugal, Tricfte, and Italy, two months, after 

 date. Twelve days of grace are allowed for payment, or 

 proteft ; the day on which the bill would become due, if 

 no grace were allowed, is reckoned for the firft day ; and 

 Sundays and holidays are alfo included in the twelve days. 



The exchanges of Ireland arc chiefly with England. The 

 par of exchange is as their monies; that is, 100/. Englilh = 

 108/. 6s. 8d. Irifti ; but the courfe of exchange has been 

 known to vary from loj to 120 per cent. Of late years, the 

 price has been between 109 and 113. Bills on Dubhn are 

 moftly drawn at twenty-one days fight, or, what is confidered 

 as equivalent, at thirty-one days date, and fuch are called 

 " bills in courfe." If the term be longer, an advance ia 

 accordingly made in the price of exchange. Thus, bills at 

 forty-one days date are charged one-eighth per cent, more ; 

 but, beyond this term, the advance is in a higher propor- 

 tion, being at the rate of half per cent, per month. Days 

 of grace, and all other ufagcs and laws of exchange, are 

 the fame in Ireland as in England, except that when a bill 

 becomes due on Sunday, it is not cuftomary here to prefent 

 it on the preceding Saturday, as in England, but on the 

 Monday following. 



At Konigfbcrg, the days of grace are three, as at 

 Berlin. 



The ufance at Leghorn for bills drawn from Amfterdam, 

 Antwerp, Cadiz, Madrid, Cologne, and Hamburgh, is two 

 months after date ; from Paris, Lyons, and Marfeilles, tliirty 

 days after date ; from London and Lilbon, three months 

 after date ; from Augftjurg and Vienna, twenty-two days 

 after date ; from Venice, Cremona, Bergamo, Brcfcia, Mo- 

 dena, and Naples, twenty days after date ; from Bologna, 

 Fcnara, Lucca, Florence, and Pifa, three days fight ; from 

 Genoa, Milan, and Turin, eight days fight'; from Sicily, 

 one month fight, or two months date ; from Sardinia, one 

 month fight ; from Perugia, five days fight ; from Tarcnto, 

 Bari, and Lecce, tvventy-feven days fight ; from Rome, 

 ten days fight, or fifteen days date ; from Ancona and Ri- 

 mini, ten days fight ; from Switzerland, eight days fight. 

 No days of grace are allowed on bills ; but they are paid 

 three times a week at the " Stanza," a place where mer- 

 chants meet on Mondays, Wednefdays, and Fridays, from 

 eleven in the forenoon till half paft two in the afternoon : 

 thus, bills which become due on Tuefdays, Thurfdays, or 

 Saturdays, are not payable till the following days of meet- 

 ing and payment. 



At the fairs of Leipfic, three of which are held every 

 year, and each fair lafts fourteen days, bills are prefented 

 for acceptance in the four firft days of the fair ; and the ac- 

 ceptance can be delayed, at new-year's fair, which begins 

 on the I ft of .Tanuary, only till the day before the fecond 

 proclamation ; but at the other two f.iirs, i. t. the Eaftcr and 

 Michaelmas fairs, till the Friday in the firft week, at t^n 

 o'clock in the forenoon at the lateft ; and if the acceptance 

 fhould not then have taken place, the bills muft be protefted. 

 The time of payment of bills of exchange is during the five 

 firft days after the tlofe of the fair is proclaimed ; fo that, 

 at new-year's fair, payment muft be made on the 12th ef 

 January at the lateft ; and at the other two fairs, on the 

 Thurfday in the fecond week ; in default of which, the bills 

 muft be then protefted before ten o'clock at night, or all 

 refource ia loft againft the drawer. 



The ufance in Leipfic is fourtc/rn days after acceptance. 



No days of grace are allowed here ; but on the day a bill 



becomes due, the holder muft demand payment ; and in 



4 C 2 cafe 



